Ui 



a 




COLCORD'S SYSTEM 



Preserving Green F orage 



WITHOUT 



HEAT OR FERMENTATION 



KY THE USE OF 



THE SILO GOVERNOR 



BY 

SAMUEL M. COLCORD 

DOVER MASS. 



CHICAGO ILl 
Howard & Wilson Publishing Co. 
1889 




C62 



COPYRIGHT 

BY SAMUEL M. COLCORD 

1889 

Pat. Office Uk. 
k9tii WIA. 



DEDICATION. 

This volume is dedicated to the Howard & Wilson 
Publishing Company, Chicago, from my warm re- 
gard AND gratitude TO THEM AS THE FIRST PERSONS 

to perceive and candidly acknowledge, through 
the columns of their valuable journal, the great 
importance and merit of my system of perfectly 
preserving green forage. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS. 

Page 

Preface, 7 

The System and Device, 13 

Of Silos, , 15 

Filling and Emptying the Silo, 19 

The Feed-box, 21 

Cut of the Feed-box, 24 

Description of the Feed-box, 25 

Weighting the Silo, 26 

The Crop to preserve, 30 

Management of the Crop, 31 

Fermentation in Silos, 34 

The Silo Governor, 37 

Cut of Silo Governor, 41 

Description of the Silo Governor, 42 

A Half Empty Silo, 48 

Silage versus Dry Fodder. By Professor Arnold, . 48 
Experiments with Ensilage. By Dr. E. L. Sturte- 

vant, Director of the State Experimental Station at 

Geneva, N.Y., 50 

The Opinions of Eminent Agriculturists, ... 51 
Sweet Forage in Winter. From the Farm, Field, 

and Stockman 53 

My Experiment Silo, 55 

Building Silos, 64 

Directions for Putting in and Removing the Silo 

Governor, 69 

Cut of the Table-top Corn-cart, 74 

Description of the Table-top Corn-cart, .... 75 

Faulty Silos and Faulty Manipulations, ... 76 



6 Contents 

Page 

Remedy for Faulty Silos, 80 

Ensilage and its Importance. From the Dairy 

World, 82 

Eliminating the Air, . . . . 85 

Preserving Green Food. Something New and Impor- 
tant in Live Stock Economy. From the Indiana 

Fanner, 1887, 85 

The Colcord Ensilage Experiments. From the 

Farm, Field, and Stockman, 1888, 87 

What my Neighbors say, 90 

What the Butcher says, 97 

Private Correspondence, 99 

What Large Dairymen say, 108 

Preserved Green Forage fed to Young Calves, . no 
The Silo Governor. From the Massachusetts Plough- 
man, , 112 

About Fertilizers, 115 

Silos and Ensilage. Yromiho. New England Farmer, 122 
Sweet Ensilage. From the A^ew England Farmer, 127 
Ensilage a Promoter of Digestion and Assimi- 
lation, 130 

Colcord's Preserved Green Forage. From the 

Fartn, Field, and Stockman, 1889, 132 

Experiments with Milk and Cream. From the 

Farm, Field, attd Stockman, 1888, 138 

Patent Silage. Yrom Xht Rural New Yorker, ... 141 
A Suggestion for the Experiment Stations. From 
the New England Farmer znd Rural New Yorker, 

1889, 142 

The Preservation of Ensilage. From the Report of 
the State Board of Agricult7ire of Pennsylvania, in 

18S8. By S. M. Colcord, 143 

Progress made in Preserving Green Forage in 

Silos, 157 



PREFACE. 

This little treatise is designed to give full in- 
formation and explanation of Colcord's method 
and device for Preserving Green Forage; and 
I have endeavored to write in plain, direct 
language, so that all persons interested in the 
subject may be able to readily understand and 
work by this system without difficulty. 

The treatise is arranged to give our present 
knowledge on its first pages; then the means 
pursued by which the knowledge was obtained; 
the proofs, tests, experiments, progressive ex- 
perience, theories, and certificates are given 
later on. This arrangement necessarily causes 
considerable repetition, as well as apparent 
contradiction ; but, as much of the matter em- 
braced in this treatise has been published from 
time to time, as facts have been developed, I 
prefer to reprint some of the original articles, 
with the comments made by the press at the 
time of their first appearance, remarking that 



8 Preface 

any investigator will be a lucky man who will 
investigate as many years as I have and not 
find occasion to change his theories and opin- 
ions quite as often as I have done. 

It should be remembered that it consumes 
one whole year's time to make each experi- 
ment, or each class of experiments, and that 
-it is necessary to verify the work in our own 
silo by the labors of other men with other 
silos. My silo, manipulations, and results are 
always open to the investigations of others. 

Everybody ought to know how utterly im- 
possible it is for any one man to make success- 
ful experiments in opposite directions at the 
same time, with opposite systems, theories, 
and modes of operation: one with heat, an- 
other without heat; one cutting forage very 
fine, another packing it in whole ; one weight- 
ing with portable weights of bags, boxes, or 
barrels, another pressing with screws ; one cut- 
ting down vertically, another forking off from 
the whole top ; one making an ensilage more 
or less repulsively odorous, another pressing 
out juice in quantity, bringing it throughout 
to the top of the silo, removing the air and 
free gases, and producing a wholesome, nutri- 
tious food, without waste or odor. 

I take great pleasure in thanking the press 



Preface 9 

for what they have done to bring my system 
and device to the notice of agriculturists ; espe- 
cially the Farm, Field, and Stockmaji, the Dairy 
World, the htdiaiia Farmer, the New England 
Farmer, the Rural New Yorker, the State 
Board of Agriculttcre 0/ Pennsylvania, in their 
Report of 1888, the Scientific American, and 
several papers in foreign languages that have 
volunteered to publish and illustrate this in- 
vention as a public benefit ; also, those papers 
that have advertised my system and governor, 
without admitting me to their editorial columns, 
although they state that they advertise nothing 
that they cannot recommend. 

All the editorial and other matter herein 
presented as copied from those papers has 
been published for the benefit of the readers 
of the above-named papers withotit expense to 
me, excepting the use of my engravings for 
illustration. 

I also insert, with these previously published 
accounts, the remarks of the former editor of 
the Massachusetts Ploughman in relation to 
the meeting and investigations of the farmers 
as to the merits of the silo governor, at which 
meeting the following closing remarks were 
made by Mr. Ware: — 

" The chairman of the meeting, at its open- 



I o Preface 

ing, stated that what was wanted was real 
experience instead of theory. It is but fair 
to state that Mr. Golcord has confined his 
remarks to practical experience and proofs, 
with corroborating testimony about the gov- 
ernor." 

It may seem contradictory, or merely a mat- 
ter of opinion, that capillary attraction should 
be stated as the cause of bringing the juice 
from the bottom to the top of the silo, and 
holding it there, when it is also stated that 
carbonic acid had taken the place of the air 
in the silo, and that under pressure the car- 
bonic acid was absorbed by the juice, causing 
a partial vacuum, which is the cause of the 
rising of the juice to the top of the silo ; but 
both these statements are true, either separately 
or combined. 

When I had 30 inches of juice at the bot- 
tom of the silo, and was pressing heavily, it 
happened that the juice began to disappear 
very rapidly. I did not believe that capillary 
attraction could be the cause of it, and sup- 
posed that the pressure had burst a hole in 
the bottom of the silo ; but, when the silo was 
empty, I could find no leak. I allowed the 
water from the aqueduct to run into the silo 
for an entire day, kept the water in it for a 



Preface 1 1 

month, and found the silo perfectly tight I 
then remembered that, before the silo was 
opened, carbonic acid had disappeared, and 
that acetic acid had remained in, or continued 
to come to the top of the perpendicular pipe 
above the silo. This was proof positive of 
what had taken place. 

We wash down the walls of the silo with 
water, using for that purpose a long-handled 
whitewash brush. This water is all drawn off 
through the governor drip pipe, and this is 
what is meant by using the governor to draw 
off water. We never put water into the forage; 
the corn contains more than we have occasion 
to use, and this year (1889) we have been feed- 
ing as high as 100 pounds daily of juice, but 
reduced the rations to 50 pounds until the 
excess of juice was used up. 

The difference in the corn crop between 
1887 and 1888 was very marked, and accounts 
for much of the difference in our results. The 
last year's crop was badly frost-bitten, quite 
immature, gathered and packed very wet, con- 
sequently it required much less pressure and 
gave a much larger proportion of free juice; 
but the screws and the governor entirely con- 
trolled these inequalities, and, so far as the 
preservation was concerned, the result was 
perfectly satisfactory. 



1 2 Preface 

I will here express my thanks to those gen- 
tlemen who have encouraged me to prosecute 
my investigations, also to those who have 
given the governor a fair trial and are now 
eivino: me their aid and encouras^ement. I 
wish also to draw the particular attention of 
the reader to the certificate of the marketman 
who butchers my cows, fatted upon this forage 
and wheat bran, (no corn meal being used); 
also to the New York Experiment Station^ in 
making the experiment of mixing acetic acid 
with green corn forage. It is valuable as 
showing the good effects of a limited quantity 
of acetic acid, and coincides with my experi- 
ence. But I don't think it safe to recommend 
such large addition of acetic acid, as a steady 
diet, to ensilage as commonly prepared ; the 
cows, as a general thing, get too much of it. 

Seeing little or nothing more to be accom- 
plished, I now offer this as my Perfected Sys- 
tem of making Preserved Green Forage without 
Heat or Fermention. 

SAMUEL M. COLCORD, 

Dover, Mass. 



THE SYSTEM AND DEVICE. 



The name of " ensilage " has been applied 
to all kinds of green forage crops that have 
passed through silos. It was first introduced 
into this country about twelve years ago, 
through the publications of Monsieur Auguste 
Goffart, of Sologne, France. The art of pre- 
serving green forage without desiccation has 
often been attempted, and has been traced 
back to remote antiquity; but to M. Goffart 
belong the invention and introduction of 
ensilage through silos, and to him we accord 
the honor. Any person who has made a study 
of his theory and practice, and who has studied 
the art as practised in this country up to the 
present time, will agree with me that the closer 
one follows M. Goffart's system, and the less 
he follows the professed improvements on his 
system, as practically illustrated in this coun- 
try, the better will be his ensilage. And I 
feel warranted in making the assertion that 



14 Colcord's System of 

M. Goffart was producing better ensilage in 
France, twelve years ago, than is being made 
by a vast majority of his followers in this 
country to-day, notwithstanding all their ex- 
periments and attempted improvements upon 
his system. 

M. Goffart, in his writings, makes this state- 
ment : — 

" The end to be attained is to prevent all 
KINDS OF FERMENTATION, bcforc and after en- 
silage. Fermentation preserves nothing ; on 
the contrary, it is alzuays a preliminary step 
tozuards a decompositio7i more or less putrid^ 
towards a real destruction." 

M. Goffart always worked to attain the end 
above expressed, as nearly as possible ; and, 
although he claimed a perfect system and was 
very particular in his manipulations, his writ- 
ings show that he never fully realized the end 
he sought, but always speaks of his ensilage 
as heating up when exposed to the air, taking 
on the alcoholic fermentation, then running 
into the acetic, and finally passing into the 
lactic and other putrid fermentations. This 
would not, could not, have been the case if he 
had never had heat and fermentation in his 
silo. 

My experience is that, when there has been 



Preserving Green Forage 15 

no fermentation in the silo, the forage does 
not heat up and pass through the alcoholic 
and acetic fermentation to lactic and putrid, 
but sometimes takes on a mouldy condition, 
which develops black rot and causes destruc- 
tion in that way. This may be called fermen- 
tation, but it is not a true fermentation. 

That I have succeeded, after years of study 
and costly experimenting, in perfectly remov- 
ing air from the silo, preventing heat and 
fermentation, and Preserving Green Forage 
Corn in perfection, will be demonstrated in the 
following pages. 



OF SILOS. 

A really good silo must be tight and strong 
and impervious to air and water. It should 
have a good foundation, perfectly drained and 
perfectly perpendicular, smooth, level-faced 
walls. If these conditions are fulfilled, it is 
not very material of what they are made ; but, 
when made of masonry, all forms of lime must 
be excluded, as acetic acid dissolves the lime. 
Cement must be used instead of lime mortar. 

Good silos are somewhat expensive ; but 
true economy points in the direction of dura- 
bility, convenience and assured success. Their 



1 6 Colcord's System of 

attachment to the barn, for convenience, should 
be provided for ; and also the means for press- 
ing the forage, which is a very important item 
in economy, time, and convenience. Pressing 
by jack-screws, if properly arranged, is the 
most simple, convenient, economical, and suc- 
cessful. It is accomplished by putting iron 
rods, I % inches in diameter, in the centre of 
the side walls, from the foundation up to from 
4 to 6 feet above the top of the silo, said rods 
being made with broad flanges on their lower 
ends, and long screws on their upper ends 
provided to receive double nuts and large 
washers, these rods to be placed in rows 
commencing and ending 4 feet from each end 
of the silo, and not more than 8 feet apart, 
arranged on both sides alike. The opposite 
rods should be tied together across the top, 
with 8x8 timbers provided with holes, so that 
they may slip loosely upon the rods. The cap 
of the wall should be 6 x 8 timber, set back 2 
inches from the inside face of the walls, to 
receive the 2-inch plank placed around the top 
of the silo for the purpose of building a light 
annex, or head-room, from 3 to 6 feet higher 
than the silo proper, said annex to be filled 
with forage and answering the purpose of so 
much solid wall. The forage placed in the 



Preserving Green Forage 17 

annex, when pressed, will all come down inside 
the solid walls. Under strong pressure, these 
walls are held up very firmly by the iron rods, 
the timber across the top acting as a spring 
upon the forage. In this way, we feel sure of 
the strength of our walls, and we can get all 
the pressure we want. The governors convey 
the abundance of juice to all parts of the silo 
evenly. 2x8 plank studding, to support the 
roof of the silo, should be placed upon the cap, 
so as to support the planks placed round the 
top, and bring them just level with the silo 
wall. In this way, all time, trouble, and ex- 
pense of weighting are avoided. In weighting, 
when the governor is used, it requires about 
100 pounds to each square foot, of surface, 
which is equal to 200 or 300 pounds where 
there is no governor. 

In the very centre of the bottom of the silo 
is placed one end of the drip pipe (seen in cuts, 
Figs. I, 2, letter k, page 41, to come flush 
with the surface of the bottom. This pipe 
should be about 3 inches long, made of 15^- 
inch pipe, screwed into an elbow at the bottom 
of the silo, and from this elbow should run a 
horizontal pipe declining 6 inches to any con- 
venient place outside and from underneath the 
wall. This pipe should end in a X to turn up, 



1 8 Colcord's System of 

with a stop-cock in the end of the J_ to draw 
off the juice, and an upright pipe from the X 
to come up outside the silo (see cut, Figs, i, 2, 
letter 1, p. 41), for the escape of the air and 
gases. The drip pipe forms a part of the silo 
governor, and the stop-cock comes over a little 
well for convenience in drawing off juice. 

It is usual to have S or 9 feet head-room 
above the silo wall, for convenience, and to fill 
the silo above the wall up into the annex, for 
economy. This head-room is also useful for 
storing the plank covering for the silo ; the 
planks that go around the top of the silo to 
build the annex ; the 6x8 timber that runs the 
length of the silo across the cover upon which 
the jack-screws are placed, and any other tim- 
ber or article of use. The jack-screws and 
blocking are placed upon the cap between the 
studding, so that all the timber and tools are 
kept at the top where they are wanted and 
do not have to be lowered or hoisted. Each 
plank, as it is removed, is placed in the head- 
room ; and, when the forage is all fed out, 
everything is in place for the next season, 
and the silo is entirely empty. Viewed from 
the bottom, it appears impossible for any one 
to get at the top for theft or disarrangement. 



Preserving Green Forage 19 

FILLING AND EMPTYING THE SILO. 

We do not care to tread down the corn as 
we fill the silo, but only keep it level and walk 
over it for the purpose of finding soft spots, 
which we fill up level. When we get the silo 
full, we tread it hard and level, rounding it up 
over the top, even above the cross timbers, 
and allow it to remain until the next morning, 
when we level it and tread again ; then put on 
cover, and then the 6x8 cross timbers 2 feet 
from the side walls, placing the jack-screws 
between the timbers. The governor being in 
place, we drop a thermometer, appended to a 
string, into the governor, to the centre of the 
silo. We also put a stick in the upright pipe 
of the bottom governor, said stick being long 
enough to touch the bottom of the pipe, for 
the purpose of measuring the juice. We take 
this measure daily ; also take the temperature 
daily, and press as often as require,d. All the 
corn is cut to half-inch pieces, and is therefore 
a homogeneous mass. When we press it, we 
mark a long stick to feet and inches, setting it 
opposite to one of the screws. We then turn 
down that screw to the mark we wish them all 
to go to, taking the stick to the next screw, 
and so on, pressing all alike, measuring from 
the top of the silo around the wall. By so 



20 Colcord's System of 

doing, we press all the contents of the silo to 
a uniform density, the. forage slipping in the 
silo, and finding its level and density like mor- 
tar in a bucket. 

Now, we are supposed to have a silo full of 
this preserved forage, 20 feet deep, consisting 
of from I to 400 tons. We have a door 
4^ X 6 feet, in one end of the silo, said door 
opening upon the barn iioor, the door-sill being 
10 feet from the bottom of the silo. We now 
roll the door to one side, and find some boards 
tacked onto the edges of 2 x 8 plank, fastened 
with 4-inch lag-screws to the 3x12 inch door 
jams, on each side, leaving the 2-inch matched 
plank flush with the inside of the silo. We 
remove the boards, then the wet sand between 
the boards and plank, then the side plank, 
fastened with the lag-screws, then the inside 
plank, the removal of which presents a solid 
wall of green forage, with every particle of it 
in perfect preservation and ready to feed' out, 
the doorway having been secured air-tight. 
We cut this preserved forage down, vertically 
and evenly, with a sharp lightning-hay-knife, 
leaving a solid, smooth face, which prevents 
the air from getting into the forage. We then 
discover that more than half the feed has to be 
elevated from i to 10 feet to the barn floor. 



Preserving Green Forage 21 

We find that we can easily elevate or depress 
the cross timbers upon the iron rods any re- 
quired distance, blocking the ends between the 
cap and the washers. We then run a line of 
6x6 timber the whole length of the silo upon 
the 'i y.'$) cross timbers in the centre, securing 
them with lo-inch las^-screws. We fasten the 
hangers of the track to the bottom of the 6x6 
timber in the centre with 4-inch lag-screws. 
We then place the ^ x 3 inch iron in the slots 
at the bottom of the hangers, fastening them 
by turning up the set-screws, and the track is 
complete. This track is furnished with a 
double-roller troll, and is quickly put up by 
any one of ordinary capacity, and is easily 
changed or removed with very little time or 
trouble. The double-roller troll, with the 
track and hangers, is made by R. J. Davies, 
Creek Square, Boston, and costs from $15 
to $20. 



THE FEED-BOX. 

A feed-box, made of stock i^^ inches 
thick, 2 feet deep, 4 feet wide outside at the 
top, and 3 1-3 feet wide outside at the bottom, 
with perpendicular ends grooved into sides 
5 feet long, i ^ inches from the ends, with 



22 Colcord's System of 

the bottom projecting i^^ inches all around, 
securely nailed on, will hold enough to feed 
25 head of cattle. Being in constant use, it 
should be well ironed all around the top and 
down the ends, at the sides, and securely fast- 
ened together by 2/% iron rods, with nuts upon 
each end, three of them across each end, going 
through irons on the outside. This box is 
suspended (see cut, p. 24) on a ^ ton compen- 
sated chain hoist by a chain on each side of 
the box, with a ring in the centre, the ends 
of the chains going through the eye of an iron 
at the top of the box, the other end of the 
iron being fastened to the 2/% rod running 
across the outside ends of the box in the 
centre ; also, by bolts near the chain, so that 
the chains will be in line from the rinof in the 
centre to the 2/^ rods supporting the box from 
the four corners at the centre, the rings in the 
centre being hooked to the chain hoist. 

An iron axle, with wheels 65^ inches in 
diameter, is securely fastened across the bottom 
of the box, 22 inches from one end; the wheels 
have i>^ inch tread, and run close to the box, 
and have a wooden shield to protect them from 
the chain. The other end of the box should 
be run upon a good strong castor in the centre. 
This will enable the box to turn and run in 
any direction from the silo to every cow. 



Preserving Green Forage 23 

With this device, one man can feed all the 
cattle with less labor than in any other way ; 
in fact, it seems more like sport than work. 
The box runs the whole length of the silo, and 
remains just where we want it, full or empty, 
at any elevation we may be removing the 
forage from the face of the cut. We do not 
have to lug any of it. Thus arranged, the 
device seems to be indestructible, and time, 
trouble, and labor reduced to the minimum. 
There is no waste, litter, or odor about the 
barn or silo. The box rolls out of the silo 
upon a Fairbanks scale, every ration is weighed, 
and it is all eaten up clean. 

The cattle require only about one-half the 
usual quantity of water: ours drink no cold 
water, and the results are shown at the milk- 
pail, the scales, and the manure pit. In fact, 
so quickly and quietly is this shown in prac- 
tical operation that it takes less time to show 
it than it does to tell and explain it. 



24 



Colcord's Systeiii of 




THE FEED-BOX. 



Preserving Green Forage 25 

DESCRIPTION OF THE FEED-BOX. 

The cut represents a feed-box capable of 
holding the rations for 25 head of cattle, show- 
ing its construction, also the compensated 
chain hoist and the double-roller troll which 
runs upon the track over the silo. When the 
box is lowered upon the barn floor, the chains 
are unhooked from the hoist, and the rings, 
by which it is shown as suspended, are placed 
in the hooks upon each side of the box, leaving 
the top of the box perfectly free and without 
any obstruction, the wheels at the bottom 
allowing the box to turn and run in any direc- 
tion. In practical use, it works perfectly, and 
is found to be the most convenient and expe- 
ditious way of conveying the forage from the 
silo to the cattle. 

The feed-box is hoisted and lowered by an 
endless chain. Said chain is shown in the cut 
as hanging loosely against the sides of the 
box ; but quite a large portion of its length is 
omitted in the cut, for the purpose of saving 
the room it would occupy on the page of the 
book. The two broken ends from which the 
omitted portion was severed are shown in 
the cut as hanging a little below the bottom 
of the box. 



26 Colco7^d's System of 

WEIGHTING THE SILO. 

Weighting has always been the great objec- 
tion to silos: how to put on and take off 20 
to 40 tons of weight, when time is precious, 
and to do it cleanly and neatly, keeping dirt, 
stones, chips, etc., out of the forage, and not 
making a litter about the barn, to say nothing 
of the continual expense, especially when the 
weighting has to be hoisted and lowered. 
Boxes and barrels are constantly coming to 
pieces, and not convenient to handle. Of 
course, the weight upon the forage is what we 
must have, and the cheapest way to get it 
there is by some thought to be the best ; but, 
in taking the weight off, it is very important 
to keep it upon every plank that you do not 
take off, to enable you to make the vertical cut 
on the forage when removing it to feed out. 
I will here suggest the best method of weight- 
ing. Take a piece of board, i inch thick, 12 
inches long, and 16 inches wide, for the bottom 
of a box, 2 pieces 18 inches long and 24 inches 
wide for the sides, and 2 pieces 25 inches long 
and 10 inches wide for the ends. Place the 
sides on the upper surface of the bottom, and 
the ends on the vertical ends of the bottom ; 
nail them firmly together, and you will have a 



Preserving Green Forage 27 

box in which none of the nails will be driven 
into the wood parallel with the grain, and each 
attachment will act as a cleat across the boards, 
to prevent their warping or splitting. These 
boxes are intended to be placed close together 
upon the 2x12 inch plank covering the silo, 
said boxes having no cleats on the outside. 
Put cleats 2^ inches wide, bevelled at the top, 
across the ends on the inside of the box. Two 
men can use these cleats as handles, and also 
to hoist with, by using an \ shaped iron having 
an eye in its top, and turned out one inch each 
side at the bottom, to go under the cleats. 
They may be filled with sand or loam for 
bedding and to absorb liquid manure, or may 
be used for gravel for weighting only. For 
strength, durability, and convenience, they are 
unrivalled. The word "long," as used above, 
means measuring with the grain, and the word 
"wide" means measuring crosswise of the 
grain. As it is sometimes very difficult to find 
boards 24 inches wide crosswise of the grain, 
4 pieces 18 inches long and 12 inches wide 
will serve to make the sides, instead of the 
18 X 24 inch stuff. 

Two hundred and fifty boxes, made in the 
above manner, at 25 cents each, would cost 
$62.50. Flour barrels would cost about half 



28 Colcord's System of 

that price, and iron rods and jack-screws would 
cost about $62.50. The boxes would last 31 
years, or $2.00 a year; the barrels, 3 years, or 
$10.00 a year; the screws and rods, 70 years, 
or, say, $1.00 a year. But the time, accuracy, 
and convenience of the screws would more 
than double the economy of the boxes or 
barrels, and should be reckoned at only 50 
cents a year. I esteem the value of the rods, 
for strength and security, fully equal to their 
value in pressing the forage ; and, if I were 
building a cheap wooden silo, I should put 
them in, first building a good 18-inch cement 
wall, 3 feet high, upon a good foundation, well 
drained, setting my wood silo upon it, putting 
a timber between each rod and the inside 
double boarding, with 2 x 12 inch studding, 
filled around the bottom with cement and 
gravel, and between the out and inside board- 
ing with sawdust to keep out the frost. I 
would also spike 2-inch plank firmly around 
the outside, at the top, middle, and bottom, 
because you want to be sure of your 8 or 10 
months' food for your cattle, and silos are so 
difficult and expensive to repair, if the walls 
give way. Built in this way, wooden silos are 
easily converted into cement ones, which are 
sure to be wanted in the future, and are always 
permanent and require no repairs. 



Preserving Green Forage 29 

There are other methods of getting pressure, 
— with levers, also with water; but these are 
no cheaper and not so convenient, because 
with jack-screws, costing from $2 to $4 each, 
you can remove the screws and blocking at 
pleasure, and set them back as you cut down, 
keeping the pressure on, which is a great 
advantage. But with water, even if you have 
an aqueduct to run the water in and out the 
barrels with a hose, the water may freeze ; and 
the barrels are always in the way and cost 
more than to press with screws and rods. 

It does not work well to have a double cover 
running lengthwise and crosswise the silo, for 
you cannot remove part of it at a time. The 
best cover is 2-inch plank, laid directly upon 
the forage, with 6x6 timber laid across length- 
wise, about 3 feet from the side walls, to keep 
the plank level. Uncover no faster than you 
cut down. I have found by repeated examina- 
tions that, when you uncover the whole top to 
feed out, by forking it off, the top, owing 
to exposure to the air, is about twice as sour 
as it is about 2 feet below where you fork from, 
so that the stock get twice as much acid as 
there is any occasion for, and often more than 
is healthy. 



30 Colcord's System of 



THE CROP TO PRESERVE. 

Almost any kind of green forage can be 
preserved in silos. The general conditions to 
be observed, in putting it in the silo, are to 
have it a homogeneous mass when pressed. 
For this reason it should be cut fine, especially 
when the stalks are coarse and hard like corn. 
It is much better to have but one kind of fod- 
der in the silo at the same time, for the reason 
that the softest kind, if more than one variety 
is used, will pack quicker, and hard enough to 
prevent the escape of air and gas. The air 
and gas will collect in spots, and set up heat 
and fermentation ; but, if the mass is in uni- 
form condition, evenly spread and pressed, the 
air may all be removed from it without diffi- 
culty, which will insure good preserved forage. 

There may be cases where there is a heavy 
crop of coarse marsh grass, fresh or salt, which 
does not require cultivation, and is convenient 
to the silo, that would pay to cut up and pre- 
serve, in which case it would greatly enhance 
its value for feeding. 

There are sections at the South where some 
heavy crops grow without cultivation that 
would make good feed for cattle, and would 



Preserving Green Forage 31 

be greatly increased in feeding value by pres- 
ervation in the silo, but which would be com- 
paratively valueless preserved by desiccation. 
A case in point is the Roman wormwood, the 
common ragweed of the North, which I have 
known to be ensiloed, and is said to have made 
a very palatable food. But to raise a crop of 
anything else for the silo, on land upon which 
Indian corn will grow, seems to be a waste of 
time and money. It is better to plough under 
the crop of weeds before they go to seed, 
and plant a crop of mammoth ensilage corn. 
When you do this, you are feeding the land 
as well as the cattle, at the same time, much 
more economically. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE CROP. 

Indian corn, above all other plants, is the 
crop for the silo, because it is the best food, is 
greatly increased in feeding value by soaking 
in its own juice in the silo under pressure, is 
a great appetizer in this form, is more assimi- 
lable as food, and the plant, or corn, in the 
milk does not have the injurious effect of corn- 
meal. From 20 to 40 tons can be raised to 
the acre of land, 3 tons of it being equal in 
feeding value to i ton of hay. It is easily 



32 Colcord's System of 

planted in drills, 3 feet apart, one kernel every 
6 inches, by an Eclipse Corn Planter, which 
plants 500 pounds of fertilizer in the drill, at 
the same time covering it and the corn, and 
rolling it all, at one operation, at the rate of 
4 acres daily. 

The best 'results I have had in crops have 
been obtained by using J. A. Tucker & Co.'s 
Bay State Superphosphates, 500 pounds being 
spread broadcast upon small loads of manure 
by a manure spreader, harrowed in, 500 pounds 
also in the drill, as above stated ; and I will 
here add that one of the best things about the 
Eclipse Planter is that every kernel of the 
corn comes up evenly, and the crows will never 
pull up any of it. 

About the seed I plant, I have had the best 
results from C. H. Thompson & Co.'s " Mam- 
moth Ensilage " and the " Red Cob Ensilage " 
from St. Louis. When there is a good oppor- 
tunity to market sweet corn, the best of it can 
be selected for market, leaving the forage in 
good condition for the silo. The best variety 
I have found for this purpose is " Stowel's 
Evergreen." 

In estimating the capacity of the silo, after 
the forage is heavily pressed, a cubic foot will 
weigh about 50 pounds, usually a trifle under, 



Preservmg Green Forage 33 

so that it is very easy to calculate how much 
to plant, how mucii to feed, and how long it 
will last. 

The " Dr. Bailey's Ensilage Cutter " will cut 
and elevate from 40 to 100 tons daily, with a 
6 to 8 horse-power engine and boiler. The 
corn can be harvested and put into the silo in 
almost any weather, hot or cold, dry or wet 
(unless it rains too hard to work in the field), 
with less trouble, in less time, more security, 
and greater surety of perfect preservation, than 
any fodder crop can be harvested in any other 
way. 

We have the statement of M. Goffart, who 
has tried it for many years, that Indian corn 
can be raised continuously, year after year, 
upon the same ground, by spreading upon the 
manure piles, each week, 100 pounds of ground 
bone to the equivalent of manure used upon 
an acre of land. I give my authority for this 
statement, because I have not tried it in this 
way. M. Goffart also states that he raises 
about 40 tons of fodder corn to the acre, upon 
land fertilized in this way, upon the same land 
continuously, and the forage keeps his cattle 
in perfect health year after year. 



34 Colcord's System of 



FERMENTATION IN SILOS. 

Chemistry teaches us that fermentation 
takes place in the foUowing order: first, the 
saccharine ; second, the alcohohc ; third, the 
acetic ; fourth, the lactic ; then a variety of 
other fermentations, either in quick succession 
or found to exist at the same time in the same 
substance. These transformations are accom- 
panied with heat. At the fourth change, the 
heat is generally above 86°, and germs of 
bacteria are developed, and we have true fer- 
mentation, with continued evolution of Car- 
bonic and Acetic Acids, in connection with a 
variety of putrid fermentations. These con- 
tinue with rapid decomposition and recomposi- 
tion, with increasing heat, until the mass goes 
to destruction, more or less quickly. 

In silos, these germs of bacteria are sup- 
posed to get into the silos with the air, at the 
time of filling. They develop very rapidly, 
and multiply indefinitely, by subdivision. The 
germs will germinate into living activity at 86° 
of heat, and will germinate after exposure to 
a heat of 212° for some hours; but the devel- 
oped bacteria will be killed at a temperature 
as low as 122°. Bacteria live upon oxygen, 



Preserving Green Forage 35 

which they may get from the air, or they may 
get it from the sugar and starch in the corn, 
direct, without air. They live and thrive in an 
atmosphere of carbonic acid. 

Now, with this explanation, how is it possL 
ble for corn to be placed with safety in a silo 
slowly, when mixed with all the air possible to 
get in with it, heating in the centre enough 
to kill bacteria, and toward the sides the 
proper temperature to develop germs into the 
greatest activity, the bacteria in the mean time 
multiplying indefinitely by subdivision in the 
best medium, sugar and starch, for supporting 
their life, — I ask how is it possible to stop 
such fermentation before the contents of the 
silo spoil } 

On the other hand, suppose the heat does 
not rise above 86°, true fermentation does not 
take place, but the action of the air upon the 
forage, with moisture, develops a fungus growth 
upon the outside of the forage, which may 
continue, passing through mould and black 
rot to destruction. This often happens in 
corn fodder when the process of desiccation 
has been imperfectly performed, but true fer- 
mentation in the silo evolves and often ends 
in a light or dirty yellow residuum, with foul 
odors, more or less pronounced, nauseating 



36 Colcord's System of 

and offensive. These conditions are usually 
found after heat and fermentation, just in pro- 
portion to the amount of air taken into and 
retained in the silo. 

I have endeavored to give a rationale, as I 
understand it, of the process of fermentation 
found in the silo. But in my practical obser- 
tions I have found that, as quickly as I could 
fill my silo. Carbonic Acid was also there, in 
qtiantity, the morning after the first day, and 
Acetic Acid, in quantity, the morning after 
the second day. My natural senses did not 
detect the presence of the saccharine or alco- 
holic fermentation. I did not get up in the 
night to call the roll, but found the substitutes 
in the morning, and have never since seen the 
delinquents to know them. I don^'t propose to 
contradict science, but I do propose to apply 
and use it according to my experience, and the 
HARD, COLD FACTS which havc confronted me. 
I know that, if I get all the air out of my silo, 
I do not have heat or fermentation, conse- 
quently no loss of fodder and no foul odor; 
and I have come to look upon Carbonic and 
Acetic Acids as my friends, in consequence of 
their early calls and assistance, in helping me 
to develop and perfect my system of perfectly 
Preserving Green Forage in its best condition. 



Preserving Green Forage 37 



THE SILO GOVERNOR. 

Whenever forage is pressed in a silo, it 
packs where it is most dense, and becomes 
so hard that the air can neither get out of 
the corn nor out of the silo. It therefore re- 
mains in, and is pressed into the forage, which 
causes it to heat and ferment; it also prevents 
the corn from settling as it should, and acts 
as an air cushion, which causes lateral press- 
ure upon the silo walls, and prevents settling 
enough to get juice at the bottom, and bring- 
ing it throughout the mass to the top. We 
therefore lose the great benefit of having a 
quantity of free juice in the silo, which benefit 
consists in reducing the temperature, making 
the forage soft and pulpy, rendering it more 
assimilable, and greatly increasing its feeding 
value. After Carbonic Acid has performed 
its office of displacing the air from the silo, 
it is absorbed by the juice, causing a partial 
vacuum, which causes the juice to rise gradu- 
ally to the top, and is kept there, under press- 
ure, by absorption and capillary attraction. 

These operations are all brought about 
and controlled by the silo governor. Its 
action commences on the first day of filling, 



38 Colcord's Systctn of 

and goes on continuously for about two 
months, when the silo is ready to be opened. 
Briefly stated, it collects the air from all parts 
of the silo, conveying it to the outside. When 
the Carbonic Acid appears, being heavier than 
air, it sinks to the bottom as it permeates the 
forage, displacing the air, which it does grad- 
ually and quietly, without mixing with it: the 
silo governor also conveys the surplus quantity 
of Carbonic Acid outside, in the same manner; 
it also operates in the same way with Acetic 
Acid. These two acids and air are the only 
gases we have to contend with when we use 
the governor, which so perfectly removes and 
governs them that we never have heat or 
fermentation ; consequently, no decomposition 
or development of foul odors. We keep a 
thermometer in the centre of the silo, and 
examine it frequently: we also measure the 
quantity of juice in the bottom of the silo 
daily, or as often as is necessary, by running 
a long stick down to the bottom of the per- 
pendicular pipe of the lower governor. We 
get all the juice wanted from the corn, allow- 
ing it to accumulate on the bottom 20 to 30 
inches deep. This last season, we had 6 
inches of juice before we could put on the 
cover to press ; the year before, we had 2 
inches. This year we had a surplus of juice. 



Preserving Green Forage 39 

and have been feeding from 50 to 100 pounds 
daily, mixed with the shorts, to our milkers. 
This juice was drawn off, clear, sweet, and 
odorless, from the bottom of the silo. 

The governor collects and distributes the 
juice to and from all parts of the silo, and con- 
veys the surplus from the centre to the outside, 
under the cemented bottom, to be drawn off 
as wanted. In making ensilage where no 
governor is used, it is seldom that any juice 
collects in the silo, even with i to 200 pounds' 
weight upon each square foot of surface ; so 
that pressing green forage by this system 
requires not half the pressure to produce 
better results, with much greater economy. 
In controlling the operations inside the silo, 
we are guided quite as much by the quantity 
and quality of the juice as by the gases, odor, 
and temperature. 

Carbonic Acid is perfectly wholesome in 
the stomach, and performs a good use in the 
silo; but it is necessary to be very careful 
working in a silo where it is, as no breathing 
animal can live in an atmosphere of it more 
than a few minutes. Acetic Acid is also very 
plentiful in the silo, and quite wholesome. It 
is the acid that causes the sour taste in every 
silo ; and we are apt to get too much of it, as 
it is readily absorbed by the juice. But a 



40 Colcord's System, of 

great deal of it is taken out, through the 
governor, in a gaseous or vapor state. When 
this acid remains in a silo that has had no 
heat or fermentation in it, it is quite pure, and 
renders the food more palatable ; but, when 
fermentation is present, it becomes decom- 
posed, loses its acidity, and assists in produc- 
ing foul odors, with a nauseous, putrid smell 
and taste. This state of things, more or less 
pronounced, is what constitutes the difference 
in the quality of ensilage; and its effects are 
noticed in the taste and smell, the foul odor 
imparted to the silo and barn, and upon the 
hands and clothing. Even the small quantity 
which the cattle can eat of it produces a 
nauseating effect ; and the bad effect produced 
by it in milk, cream, and butter, especially 
when fed to delicate children, is positively 
unhealthy, not only to them, but to man or 
beast. Such a condition may be easily and 
entirely avoided in the preservation of green 
forage, and never exists where there is no 
heat or fermentation, or where the governors 
are used, in a good silo, to prevent it. 

With good smooth walls, held up with iron 
rods built into them, with the governor to take 
out the air and gases, we have but little lateral 
pressure ; and yet we bring immense vertical 
pressure to bear directly and uniformly, which 



Preserving Green Forage 



41 



condenses the forage, without impacted strata 
in the mass, giving us results, without fear of 
accident, not obtainable by any other means. 



CUT OF SILO GOVERNOR. 




42 Cole Orel's System of 



DESCRIPTION OF THE SILO GOVERNOR. 

Figure i is a top view of a silo ready to 
receive the ensilage, and showing a portion of 
my apparatus resting on the floor. 

Figure 2 is a vertical section cut on the line 
XX of Fissure i. 

Figure 3 is a portion of pipe, on an enlarged 
scale, taken from one of the front corners of 
the apparatus, and placed bottom side up to 
show the air holes on its under side. 

Figure 4 is a top view, on an enlarged scale, 
of a portion of the bottom of the silo before 
the principal portion of my apparatus has been 
placed in position, showing the upturned end 
of the drip pipe, and the strainer in its mouth. 

Figure 5 is a section of portion of pipe and 
elbow, on an enlarged scale, showing the 
wooden peg which prevents the pipe from 
turning in its bearings. 

I construct my apparatus as follows : I take 
iron pipes a a of any dimensions desired, and 
join them together so as to form a frame A, 
with a continuous air connection (which also 
communicates with the drip pipe b), by screw- 
ing each of the ends of the pipe a and a, into 
its connecting elbow 8 or coupling 9, as shown 



Preserving Green Forage 43 

at c. The ends 10 and 12 of the pipes a are 
thrust or telescoped into their connecting 
elbow 8 and their couplings 9, as shown in 
Figures i, 3, and 5. All the horizontal pipes, 
except the drip pipe b, which runs toward the 
side wall of the silo B, are perforated on their 
under side with holes about one-fourth of an 
inch in diameter, and about six inches distant 
from each other, as seen in Figures 3 and 5 ; 
the ends 10 of the pipes a are each held in 
position by a small wooden peg or pin e, as 
shown in Figures f, 3, and 5. 

A T-coupling y" is screwed on to the project- 
ing end of the drip pipe b, and the vertical pipe 
g is screwed into the upright branch of said 
coupling f ; the vertical pipe g affording an 
outlet or means of escape from the silo for the 
air and gases. The pipes a a\ which extend 
transversely across the centre of frame A, 
from side to side, are screwed into the coup- 
lings 9, 9 and 2, the downward branch of the 
latter coupling fitting loosely within the up- 
turned end of the drip pipe b. The water, 
juices, etc., from the forage, are drawn off 
when desired through the drip pipe b, the outer 
end of which is provided with a stopper k; 
but a faucet may be employed instead of the 
stopper, if preferred. 



44 Colcord's System of 

The mouth of the vertical pipe g I close with 
a stopper /, or with a cap. 

If the silo has a capacity of over 150 tons, or 
is more than fifteen feet deep, the apparatus 
for the bottom of the silo being in place, the 
cut corn is piled upon it In the usual way; and, 
when the silo is about half full, another appa- 
ratus, or frame A, not differing materially from 
that on the bottom of the silo, excepting that 
its vertical pipe m, which performs the same 
office as the vertical pipe g, and also has its 
mouth closed by a stopper, rises from the in- 
side of the silo, as seen in Figure 2. 

For the better support of the second frame 
A, and to prevent the small holes at the bot- 
tom of the pipe from becoming stopped with 
the forage, it is placed on a skeleton plat- 
form n, Figure 2, composed of narrow strips 
of furring ; and upon this platform n, with the 
frame upon it, the cut corn is piled until the 
silo is filled. To secure the second frame A 
in its place on the skeleton platform n, nails or 
staples are driven into the platform for that 
purpose. As soon as the silo is filled, the ordi- 
nary planks are put upon the top of the for- 
age, and the weight placed on said plank. 
Nothing should be put between the forage 
and the plank. 



Preserving Gree7i Forage 45 

When the freshly cut corn is placed in the 
silo, it has not yet had time to become much 
wilted, if, indeed, it is wilted at all. Conse- 
quently, the air which remains in contact with 
it there, is in a much freer condition than it is 
after it has wilted ; for through the operation 
of wilting the said air becomes much more in- 
timately associated with it, and much more 
difficult to separate from it. Therefore, dur- 
ing the process of filling the silo containing 
my apparatus, a large portion of the air in 
contact with the forage will be taken into 
the pipes a a\ and escape into the surround- 
ing atmosphere through the vertical pipes g 
and m. 

The parts of the governor are now made to 
be screwed together, which is found to be pref- 
erable to " sleeving " them together, as was 
formerly done. Right-hand screws are used 
at every joint, excepting the right and left 
couplings at the cross-sections. 

* We take the perpendicular pipes from any 
part of the governors. When used to take 
temperature, they are taken up through the 
centre of the silo. The cut in Figure 2 repre- 
sents a pipe taken up at one side, about 6 
inches from the wall. 

In opening the silo to remove the forage, 



46 Colcord''s System of 

when the first part of the frame A of the ap- 
paratus is reached, the pipe a nearest to the 
front end r of the silo B is pulled away from 
its connections with the adjacent longitudinal 
pipes a, and the latter are then also removed, 
the pegs e, which held the pipes a in position, 
having been first taken out, or broken off. 

As the work of discharging the silo pro- 
ceeds, on arriving at the central portion, the 
pipes a, with their couplings 9, 9, i, after pegs 
e have been removed, can be pulled out and 
lifted from their place, and their adjacent lon- 
gitudinal pipes a drawn out, leaving only the 
pipe a at the rear part of the silo to be re- 
moved when reached. 

In building a new silo, I place the drip pipe 
'^, Figure 2, so that its upturned end will be 
flush with the surface of the bottom of the 
silo. Just below the surface of its upturned 
end, I place a strainer j-. Figures 2 and 4, 
which will allow water and juice to pass freely, 
but will arrest coarse pieces of matter. 

When liquid rises in the pipe g, it can be 
drawn off by removing the stopper k. 

The silo governor has air passages within 
three to four feet of every part of the forage 
to the outside of the silo, from which to dis- 
charge the air, not only after it is packed, but 
while it is being filled. 



Preservijig Gree^i Forage 47 

Air can be taken out of the silo in larger 
quantities from the bottom and central parts 
of the silo than can escape from the top. 

While the air is going out of the silo, there 
can be no ingress ; and, as soon as egress 
ceases, the air passages should be closed, by 
stopping the mouths of the perpendicular pipes 
g and m. 

The governor will take off the lateral press- 
ure from the walls. There will be nothing- 
like the pressure of an air cushion in the nat- 
ure of hydrostatic pressure. But there must 
be weight enough upon the ensilage to press 
it to such a degree that it may be cut verti- 
cally from top to bottom, leaving a smooth, 
solid front to prevent the ingress and action of 
the air. 



48 



Colcord's System of 



A HALF EMPTY SILO. 

The following cut Is introduced for the sole 
purpose of showing the situation of the two 
governors when one-half the ensilage has been 
removed. It also shows the vertical pipes. 




SILAGE versus DRY FODDER. 

Professor Arnold, being asked why three 
tons of good silage have a feeding value of one 
ton of the best hay, replied that in green 



Preserving Green Forage 49 

succulent foods the cellular tissues have not 
been converted into woody fibre, and in masti- 
cation and digestion all of the nutritive sub- 
stances in these cells are quickly acted upon 
by the saliva of the mouth, and then the gas- 
tric juices of the stomach, and all the nutri- 
ment is assimilated with only a minimum 
expenditure of force by the animal economy 
to digest it. The natural moisture of the 
plants, when green, also acts as a compensa- 
tion, and requires but little beyond the gastric 
juice to make the food fluid enough for diges- 
tion. With dry food, nature is heavily taxed 
at all points to make good the loss of the 
juices or moisture of the food. The secretions 
of the mouth are called upon to moisten the 
dry food. The woody fibre of the plants must 
be broken down and disintegrated by the power 
of gastric juice to set free the real nutriment of 
the food. This force is several times grreater 
than is necessary when succulent food is fed. 
All this extra expenditure of force must be 
supplied by the animal, and therefore calls for 
an increased amount of food to make good this 
demand, or else the animal falls off in flesh. 



50 Colcord's System of 



EXPERIMENTS WITH ENSILAGE. 

At the annual meeting of the New York 
State Agricultural Society, recently held at 
Albany, Dr. E. L. Sturtevant, director of the 
State Experimental Station at Geneva, read a 
paper on ensilage, an abstract of which we give 
herewith : — 

In the experiments carried out last year at 
the station, sweet food, purposely acidified 
with a measured quantity of acetic acid in 
about the same proportion as analysis showed 
to exist in ensilage, gave better results in 
milk and by live weight than did the same 
food without the acid ; and the doubling of 
the acid ration was followed by an increased 
improvement in quantity of product. A care- 
ful examination into the kinds of food fed 
during the various periods showed that one 
apparent effect of the acid was to improve the 
appetite of the cows and cause them to eat a 
slightly larger ration than they had been using 
previously. We are thus led to believe that, 
so long as the acid fed is not in a proportion 
beyond proper condimental relations, it is a 
valuable adjunct to food. When we notice 
that the use of ensilage as sole food has not 



"iD" 



Preserving Green Forage 51 

produced a satisfactory condition in the ani- 
mals thus fed, we fully believe that the feeding 
of the acid beyond its condimental proportions 
is not advisable. We are led to believe that 
ensilage must be considered as a valuable food 
when judiciously fed ; and in the hands of a 
judicious feeder it may possess a value superior 
to that of the raw material, inasmuch as it 
contains the same amount of nutrition in addi- 
tion to a certain condimental effect upon the 
animal. 

THE OPINIONS OF EMINENT AGRI- 
CULTURISTS. 

The following certificate from gentlemen 
eminently and reputably known for their prac- 
tical knowledge of agriculture and the applica- 
tion of business intelligence in their operations 
will be interesting in connection with the sub- 
ject of ensilage. It reads as follows: — 

"The undersigned, having made and fed 
ensilage for several years, believing that we 
have arrived at certain and uniform success, 
offer to those who are in doubt, this 

CERTIFICATE. 

" This certifies that we are making ensilage 
without heat or fermentatio7i, in air-tight silos, 



52 Colcord's Systetn of 

cutting the corn in one-half to three-quarter 
inch lengths, weighting loo pounds to the 
square foot, and with this pressure getting one 
foot or more of juice in the bottom of the silo. 
We remove the air from the silo by using Col- 
cord's Silo Governor, which causes a heavy- 
vertical, with very little lateral, pressure. We 
obtain as uniform results cold, moist, soft, and 
pulpy ensilage, of the natural color of the corn, 
without offensive odor, imparting no odor to 
the silo, barn, hands, or clothing, but often of a 
bright, sweet smell, and sometimes the odor of 
nice, dry corn fodder. We feed an average of 
6b pounds daily to each cow, and our cattle 
eat it all without any waste. 

" We regard Mr. Colcord's system as the 
true, if not the only true, method of ensilaging 
green forage crops, and recommend it as sure, 
uniform, economical, and less troublesome than 
any other. By using this system, with the 
governor, according to directions, any one may 
be sure of success with ensilage. 

"Edmund M. Wood, Boston, Mass. 
"T. E. RuGGLES, Milton, Mass. 
"Charles L. Copeland, Milton, Mass. 
"C. A. Davis, Natick, Mass. 
" Bernard Monaghan, Dedham, Mass." 



Preserving Green Forage 53 

[From the Farm, Field, and Stockman^ 

SWEET FORAGE IN WINTER. 

COLCORD's governor in practical use. PAR- 
ticulars from mr. colcord himself. 

General C. H. Howard: 

Sir, — I never planted corn any better, culti- 
vated better, or manured better than this year; 
but the season here has been unusually bad 
for corn, — cold and wet to a degree I have 
never seen before. The corn did not grow. 
It was two feet less in height, the leaves were 
about half the usual size, and the stalks small: 
it was badly frost-bitten about September i. 

During the months of September and Octo- 
ber, the rain was as continuous as the rainy 
season of California or some parts of the 
South. Very little corn around here ripened, 
and nearly all the fodder spoiled in curing. 

I cut mine into the silo September 18 to 24. 
It rained all that week except half a day. We 
were four days putting it in. It rained so 
hard 2 days that we could not work. It aver- 
aged 13 tons to the acre (last year 19 tons). 
All the corn was in the milk. It was put in 
very wet, cut to half-inch. I put in 3 gov- 



54 Colcord's System of 

ernors, i on the bottom, i in the centre, and i 
inverted immediately under the plank cover- 
ing, because I used the same splined cover 
that I did last year. When the silo was ,^ 
full, there were 6 inches of juice all over the 
bottom : no carbonic or acetic acid this year. 
Last year both were very abundant. The 
juice is sweet, but would test slightly acid. 
The temperature in the centre of the silo is 
76° to 78° (last year 72°). There are 18 
inches of juice in the bottom, (last year 30 
inches). I can get any quantity I want at any 
time. 

The top is kept perfectly level with ten 
jack-screws. It is under perfect control, and 
no trouble to press it. I can discover no foul 
odors, and think it is ripening or curing very 
nicely. 

I hope to be able about December i to send 
you a sample of the juice and a sample of the 
preserved forage : if I do, I shall press out the 
juice from 2 or 3 pounds of the forage near to 
the top of the silo, bottle it, and pack it in the 
identical forage I press it from. I don't under- 
stand why I should have no acid in it this year 
and so much last year, and what the difference 
will be when I come to open the silo. If this 
turns out good, it will settle the question of 



Preserving Green Forage 55 

being able to be sure of the corn crop every 
year. It seems impossible to have another 
year as bad as this ; and I could see no objec- 
tion to the acid I had in it last year, and all 
my experiments went to prove it. I shall 
weigh all my stock when I begin to feed it, 
and every thirty clays after, and note the differ- 
ence in milk and flesh. The difference must 
be in the quality of the crop, although there is 
6° higher temperature this year. I am trying 
to find out about that capillary attraction. 
Last year the juice went up about i inch a day 
after I ceased to press it: this year I am not 
pressing so heavy, and it doesn't appear to 
rise so fast. My last month of feeding last year 
showed quite an increase in feeding value.* 



MY EXPERIMENT SILO. 

In building my silo, I took nearly level 
ground, laying it out to build an air-tight pit 
12 X 32 X 20 feet, excavated 5 feet, putting in 
the foundation of cobble-stone 20 inches wide, 
18 inches below the bottom of the silo, with 
a 4-inch land drain around the outside, pour- 
ing over the foundation thin, mixed cement. 
After it became firm and level, I erected a 

* This article was published soon after the silo was filled. Later 
on, carbonic and acetic acids put in an appearance. 



56 Colcord's Sy stern of 

staging 18 feet high. The upright timbers 
next to and on both sides of the wall to be 
built were 6x6 spruce timber, 5 feet apart, 
securely fastened across the pit by 2 x 8 plank, 
sawed exactly to one length, securely fastened 
near the top, bottom, and centre by one 6-inch 
round spike in the centre of each 6-x-6-inch 
cross connection, to give a perfectly flat, firm 
bearing. The planks running lengthwise were 
fastened to the uprights in the same manner, 
care being taken to have the uprights per- 
fectly perpendicular, without variation in 
distance between the walls. To insure per- 
fect accuracy, the inside uprights were spiked 
together and raised in pairs. Straight timber 
was selected, and as far as possible straight- 
grained ; the diagonal braces of i x 6 fence 
boards were used. 

After the inside staging was up, the outside 
timbers were raised and placed opposite the 
inside ones, leaving space for the 18-inch wall 
and the plank on each side, also for laths 34 
inch thick to be placed between the plank and 
the uprights, to be taken out each time the 
plank is raised. The inside and outside up- 
right timbers, also the outside 4x4 staging, 
were securely fastened together with 1x6 
fence board, 6 feet long. Thus the inside 



Preserving Green Forage 57 

and outside stagings were securely fastened 
together, the connections being sawed away 
as the wall was built up between the stagings. 
The wall planks were 18 inches wide, planed 
to even thickness. These were placed all 
around the pit and mitred at the corners. 
Between these planks the wall was built up 
daily from 12 to 16 inches. 

When the inside staging was removed, there 
was not a variation of y% inch in the length of 
the walls from top to bottom or from end to 
end. 

I was thus particular in building, because I 
was trying to make an air-tight pit, in which 
I could exhaust, which was equal to packing 
384 square feet of covering tight enough to 
exhaust 6,528 cubic feet, which every one said 
I could not do. 

The mortar was composed of one part 
cement, two parts coarse sand, two parts 
small, clean cobble-stone, two parts small 
broken stone, and water in the proportion 
of about 30 gallons to each barrel of cement. 
This was taken to the pit in buckets, poured 
in and packed with trowels, to keep the 
stones from the plank. Iron rods i^ inches 
in diameter, with strong flanges at the bottom, 
terminating 4 feet above the top of the wall„ 



5 8 Colcord's System of 

with long screws and double i^^^-inch nuts, 
were built into the centre of the side walls 
from the foundation up. These rods should 
be placed about 8 feet apart, commencing 
4 feet from the end walls. 

Eight by eight spruce timber was used 
to connect opposite rods across the top of 
the pit; i^-inch holes were bored through the 
timbers, to allow them to slide freely on the 
rods ; cast-iron washers i ^ x 6 inches were 
used under the nuts. When the wall was 
up half-way, all around level, 2x6 planks 
were set up on the outside of the wall between 
the 6x6 upright timbers and the building 
plank, for the purpose of setting the uoper 
half of the wall in 6 inches all around the out- 
side, leaving the part yet to be built 1 2 inches 
thick. In the 6-inch ledge at the bottom, re- 
served to build upon, was placed a strip of 2 
x 2 all around to fasten the woodwork to. 

Before we commenced laying up the wall, 
a drip or drain pipe ij^ inches in diameter 
was placed at the bottom, from the exact 
centre of the pit to one of the corners, to 
come out into a well 3 feet deep. This out- 
side end was placed 8 inches below the bottom 
of the pit, with a J_ turning up 3 inches inside 
the face of the wall. Into this X was screwed 



Preserving Green Forage 59 

an upright ij^-inch pipe, which was built into 
the wall, coming out at the top of the 6-inch 
ledge upon the barn floor, terminating 2 feet 
above the floor with a plug and side stop-cock, 
arranged to collect the gases for examination, 
to sound the depth of juice and draw it off 
at the bottom over the well, also for general 
purposes of examination. The end of the 
drip pipe at the centre of the pit terminated 
in an elbow, with 3 inches of pipe coming up 
through the cemented bottom and flush with 
it. These pipes are a part of the governor, 
which in this pit is a frame of i-inch iron pipe 
26 feet long and 6 feet wide, perforated with 
}4^-inch holes every 6 inches, arranged to 
sleeve together at the corners, in the centre, 
and at the sides 6^ feet from the ends, and 
put together in, such a way that the whole of 
it can be put in in fifteen minutes, and every 
part of it is taken out separately, as it is found 
in taking the forage from the pit ; it is also 
placed so that the forage cannot stop up the 
^-inch air holes. In the centre of this frame 
is a X that turns down 3 inches into the drip 
pipe. In practical use, this is all of the bot- 
tom governor. 

The governor being in place, we cut the 
corn in 3^ -inch lengths, fill the pit a little 



6o Colcord's System of 

more than half full, level and tread it evenly; 
then upon a skeleton wooden frame we put 
a second governor, in all respects like the 
other, except, instead of turning down the 
outlet into the drip pipe, we turn it up, with 
a perpendicular pipe coming up through the 
forage from the centre of the pit and through 
the plank covering, and terminating, like the 
other, with a plug or cap. When the pit is 
full and trod down evenly, cover with 2-inch 
spruce planks fitted to slide down the walls 
nicely and evenly ; press it firmly enough to 
get about 2 feet of juice in the bottom, and 
in practical operation this is all that is re- 
quired. But in this pit, which was made to 
try any experiment and test any principle in 
the direction of possibilities, or perfect preser- 
vation, a third governor inverted was put in, 
and the three governors were sleeved together, 
having a continuous outlet from top to bot- 
tom, closed with stop-cocks and plugs, having 
432 outlets for gas and air from the forag-e 
into the pipes, distributed evenly through the 
mass. The top governor was laid directly 
upon the corn, the pit was covered with 2-inch 
splined planks, accurately fitted so as to slide 
down the walls as the mass settled. This 
cover was covered with two layers of thick 



Preserving Green Forafj^e 6i 

paper, and a 45^ -inch rubber packing all around 
the walls, making it air-tight. This was also 
covered with 4 inches of damp sand. 

Two lines of 6 x 8 timber were placed the 
length of the pit upon the cover, upon which 
were placed 2-inch jack-screws under the 8x8 
timbers through which the iron rods passed. 
This arrangement, by reason of the elasticity 
of the corn and the springing of the timbers 
above the jack-screws, gave a continuous press- 
ure, which was found to be ample and safe. 
In this way, I was able to get an air-tight ex- 
haust. All the air and o-as had to come out 
through the governor, giving an opportunity 
for examination and taking the temperature 
daily at different depths. At no time was the 
temperature above 72*^ in the pit, which was 
about the outside temperature when we com- 
menced to fill. Carbonic acid appeared in the 
pit the morning after the first day we cut, and 
the next day acetic acid put in an appearance. 
These, with air, were the only gases or vapors 
that have come out of the pit; and these appear 
perfectly pure, without any odor, — something I 
have never seen before in any silo. In fact, there 
has never been any heat, fermentation, or foul 
odor in the pit. Juice drawn from the bottom 
is odorless ; and when, by long exposure to the 



62 Colcord's System of 

air, it does change, it turns to bright, odorless 
vinegar. There is no odor of ensilage in the 
pit or stable, and not any waste in the pit 
or at the feeding-troughs, but "is all eaten up 
clean. I am now feeding an average of seventy 
pounds daily to each animal. Many of them 
would eat considerably more. I think, how- 
ever, that I shall find a variety for cows is 
better than any one kind of food. 

The bottom and centre governors took the 
air out so fast while we were filling that be- 
fore it was full we had 2 or 3 inches of juice 
all over the bottom of the pit. There was 
very little lateral pressure until after we began 
to press. The i-foot walls were found to be 
strong enough, the strain upon the iron rods 
preventing any fear of their pressing out. 
One of my aims was to get the juice as near 
the top as I could, to make the mass soft and 
uniform throughout. I have succeeded per- 
fectly in doing this, in getting an exhaust. 

The mass is now cut down vertically 13}^ 
feet, and back across the end 10 feet, with a 
hard, smooth face which does not change, let 
the air in, or the juice down. I can take a 
handful of the forage and squeeze the juice 
from it, from any part of the face. There is no 
air in it, it remains sopping wet and cold from 



Preserving Green Forage 63 

the top plank to the bottom. To test the 
exhaust, I connected the governors both at 
top and bottom of the pit with a steam vac- 
uum pump. As soon as the air was removed 
and juice came into the pump, I cut off the 
connection with the bottom, and the pump 
threw a stream of juice from the top 10 feet 
high into the air. Therefore, more pumping 
or pressure was useless, the juice has taken 
the place of the air, and capillary attraction is 
keeping it there throughout the mass. In 
practical operation, capillary attraction is suffi- 
cient to convey and keep the juice at the 
top. This has the effect of keeping the 
forage wet and cold, and seems to give it a 
ripening process, rendering it more palatable 
and assimilable, as evinced by the continual 
improved quality as we' cut into it. The cover 
should be removed no faster than we cut down 
vertically. As I have had no heat or fermen- 
tation in the pit, the forage does not heat up 
when taken out and exposed to the air. In 
very cold weather, I pour over the forage in 
the feed-box one to two gallons of hot water 
to each 100 pounds; but it will not start to 
increase the heat, as there are no germs of 
fermentation in the forage, apparently. The 
forage has a density in the pit of 50 pounds 
to a cubic foot. 



64 Colcorcfs System of 

The great advantage in this manner of 
pressing with screws is that we get the amount 
wanted wherever and whenever we want it, it 
can be put on and taken off at pleasure, the 
elasticity of the corn with the spring of the 
timbers above the jack-screws gives it a contin- 
uous pressure, the time, trouble, and expense 
of weighting are entirely avoided. Another 
advantage is, the iron rods can be carried up 
6 or 8 feet above the top of the wall, arrang- 
ing the studding above to receive the planks 
and virtually building the silo so much higher. 
When the pressure is put on, it brings the 
cover down between the cement walls ; and 
these planks, also the covering planks, can be 
packed away above the pit, just where they 
will be wanted for future use. 



BUILDING SILOS. 



The door in the end of my silo is 4^ x 6 
feet. The door-frame is made of 3-x-i 2-inch 
plank. All around the outside of the door- 
frame, I spiked a strip of 2-x-4-inch plank. 
This strip, being embraced in the masonry, 
formed a lug, or shoulder, to hold the door- 
frame in position, and prevent its being dis- 
turbed. I anticipated some trouble in making 



Preserving Green Forage 65 

the doorway tight ; but, with a 2-inch matched 
plank, made to fill the opening in the door- 
frame, and by fastening with 4-inch lag-screws 
a 2-x-io-inch plank on to the 3-x-i 2-inch door- 
jambs, I succeeded in rendering the doorway 
absolutely air-tight. And it remained so until 
the silo was opened. 

I used a very heavy old cart-wheel iron tire 
to bind the end of my silo together, over the 
door, by laying the tire upon the top of the 
door-frame, turning the ends up 6 inches into 
the side walls, and passing a ^-inch iron bolt 
through the door-frame, the iron tire, the 
walls, and the cap of the silo, turning the nut 
firmly on the bolt. 

I feel that I have fulfilled my promise in 
making these experiments ; and by them, with 
the experience gained in five years past, I am 
able to prove every statement I have made 
about this system, and now have the results to 
show. I think I may congratulate the stock- 
men in this country upon the certainty that 
green forage can be perfectly and uniformly 
preserved year by year, at a cost of about one- 
third the feeding value of hay; that it costs no 
more to handle than hay in time or money ; 
that it is a surer feeding crop to raise than any 
other ; that the insurance risk is far less from 



66 Colcord's System of 

lightning, fire, flood, or drought, than upon 
any other stock food ; that cattle drink only 
about one-half as much as when fed on hay; 
that by this system we can feel insured against 
cold or hot, wet or dry seasons, and silos can 
easily be protected from frost. My silo is 
boarded up outside with i-x-6-inch rough 
feather-edge boards to the top, and packed 
between with 6 inches of sawdust on the ex- 
posed side and end. It will be found to be 
the rrtost economical way to build good, tight 
silos. The expense of building them depends 
somewhat upon the soil and situation : the 
expense should be about the same in building 
for stock fed with preserved forage as for hay. 
There is no economy in building cheap silos, 
and poor economy, with great waste, in pack- 
ing corn in whole, filling slow, and having heat 
and fermentation that cannot be controlled. 

No lime should be used in the mortar for 
building silos. Any one intending to build a 
silo, or having one that is not satisfactory, will 
do well to call and see this one. It will be a 
great satisfaction, and a saving of time and 
money, as the important experiments have 
nearly all been made, and are open to any 
one that calls. It is very easy to see how 
silos can be altered to make this kind of 
forage. 



Preserving Green Forage 67 

In building a silo, it pays to build well ; and, 
to prove all the facts about it, I tried to build 
perfectly, in order to test the possibilities of a 
perfect system, and have inserted in this book 
a picture of the staging, inside and outside the 
silo wall, when it was 5 feet high, taken from 
a photograph (see cut, p. 68). When building 
my silo, the weather was 100° in the shade, 
the plank between which the wall was made 
was exposed to the sun on one side, and cold, 
wet, grout cement mortar on the other side. 
The consequence was that the plank swelled, 
or rolled, between the upright timbers % oi i 
inch on each side, making }4 inch variation, 
in some places, between the side walls ; and 
this was and is the only deviation in the walls. 

The following cut, taken from a photograph, 
shows my silo in process of building : — 



68 



Colcord's System of 




o 



Preserving Green Forage 69 



DIRECTIONS FOR PUTTING IN AND RE- 
MOVING THE SILO GOVERNOR. 

The governor is made of i-inch pipe, with 
holes 54^ inch in diameter and 6 inches apart, 
along one side of the pipe. The pipes are 
arranged in frames around the inside of the 
silo, about 3 feet from the walls, with 1 34 -inch 
pipe across the centre of the frame. In the 
centre of this pipe is a X to turn up, in which 
to screw the perpendicular pipe, if it is to come 
up in the centre of the silo through the forage. 
In the centre of the bottom governor, the T 
turns down to enter the drip pipe, which runs 
from the centre of the silo, declining about 6 
inches, to any convenient place outside the 
wall, under the cemented bottom, the outside 
end of the drip pipe terminating with a stop- 
cock, to draw off the juice ; also, a X in which 
to screw the perpendicular pipe which comes 
up outside the wall to any convenient height, 
usually to 2 feet above the barn floor, for con- 
venience in measuring the juice and to have 
the stop-cock and outlet under cover, to avoid 
frost. 



70 Co /cord's System of 

These bottom governors can be arranged to 
have the outlets on a level with the bottom of 
the silo, by cementing a pipe in the wall large 
enough to sleeve the governor into. The stop- 
cock, from the drip pipe in my silo, comes out 
over a little well about three feet deep, to per- 
mit a pail to be held to catch the juice. All 
the governors, except those lying directly upon 
the bottom of the silo, have the perpendicular 
pipes come up through the forage. All the 
horizontal pipes should be placed upon strips 
of board about 4 inches wide. All the gov- 
ernors should be carefully put in, so that the 
34-inch holes will be at the bottom, which 
makes a passage the whole length of the frame 
for air and gas to get into the pipes. In put- 
ting in the centre governor, the forage should 
be well trodden level, or it will get out of place, 
and the pipes bent in settling. 

Sometimes, in old silos, when people don't 
want to go to the trouble and expense of 
making alterations, I put in both of the 
perpendicular pipes from the governors, to 
come up through the forage to the top, in 
which case, if there is much juice in the bot- 
tom, it must be pumped out before cutting 
down the forage into it, because air coming 
in contact with the juice is apt to change 



Preserving Green Forage . 71 

and injure it, and carry the injury into the 
forage. 

The governors, as we make them now, are 
much cheaper than formerly, and work equally 
well. All the connections are made with 
right-hand screws, excepting the right-and-left- 
barred, or ribbed, couplings on the sections 
that go across the frame, so that, in putting 
the governors together, lay the side pipes down 
as they go, and screw them together. Take 
your centre i Y^ in cross-section, unscrew the 
right and left coupling, and screw each half 
into the opposite sides. Do the same at both 
ends. Then turn these two halves bottom- 
side up, and see that all the %-inch holes are 
on top. Then turn them over again, screw 
the right and left couplings together, then 
your perpendicular pipes. The frame is then 
ready to be placed in the centre of the silo. 
See that your centre governor is placed a little 
more than half-way up, fastened to the skele- 
ton platform with staples, or plumbers' fasten- 
ings. When you again find it, in removing 
the forage, it will be more than half-way down. 
Remove the governor as you come to it, un- 
screwing the right and left couplings first, 
then each part in the manner you put the 
frame together, sawing or breaking away the 



72 Colcord's System of 

skeleton platform as you come to it. All the 
connections are made, and disconnected, by 
using ordinary gas-pipe tongs. They are very 
easily handled, as all the screws are right 
hand, except the right and left couplings, and 
do not require to be screwed very tight. 

When the governor is in place, there is a 
row of 54-inch holes on each side where the 
pipe comes in contact with the bottom of the 
silo, or the strips of boards, so that, when the 
fodder is placed upon them in the silo, it falls 
down on each side of the inch pipe, leaving a 
pathway for the air and gases to pass along to 
the holes in every part of the frame. 

Supposing that your silo inside is 12 x 32 
X 20 feet, your two governor frames would be 
6 X 26 feet each. There will be a distance of 
3 feet all around from the wall to the gover- 
nors ; also, 3 feet from the centre of the silo to 
the governors. You place your upper governor 
1 1 feet from the bottom, and fill the silo 20 
feet high. Covering and pressing may reduce 
the mass to 12 feet. You then have 3 feet 
from the top to half-way to the upper governor, 
then 3 feet to the upper governor, then 3 feet 
to half-way between the two governors, then 3 
feet to the bottom governor, bringing every part 
of the forage to within about 3 feet from these 



Preservmg Green Forage 73 

rows of 34-inch holes in the pipes and the 
openings between the top plank, giving ample 
opportunity for the escape of gas. In this way, 
while filling a silo of this size, in four days, I 
had 6 inches of juice in the bottom before I 
could get the cover on or give it any pressure; 
while other silos, having no governors, had no 
juice upon their bottoms, even when weighted 
with from 100 to 200 pounds to each square 
foot of top surface. By this system, it does 
not require one-half the weight or pressure to 
secure the ordinary results gained in the man- 
agement of silos ; and I am led to believe there 
is no other way known as yet to prevent heat 
or fermentation, or one likely to be devised as 
perfect and economical as this. 



74 



Colcord's System of 




< 

o 
u 

Ph 

o 

H 

I 

w 
hJ 

pa 



Preserving Green Forage 75 



DESCRIPTION OF THE TABLE-TOP 
CORN-CART. 

The cut represents a level, portable table, 
designed to take the corn from the field to the 
cutter, to be cut without laying it upon the 
ground, avoiding handling, soiling, getting it 
gritty or any mixing it with stones, gravel, 
wood, or dirt of any kind, to dull or injure the 
knives, or to get to the animals in their food. 
The top is 6^ x 9}^ feet. The wheels are 40 
inches in diameter, with a 4-inch tread. It is 
arranged to use one horse or two. The tall 
corn is spread upon 'it when cut, the butts all 
on one side, and can be fed into the cutter 
directly from the cart, which is the same height 
as the cutter. The rollers of the cutter feed 
the corn to the knives by merely pushing the 
butt-ends to the rollers. In practical use, it 
works admirably, and is a very useful cart upon 
a farm for gathering fruit and other crops in 
the field. 



76 Colcord's System of 



FAULTY SILOS AND FAULTY MANIPU- 
LATIONS. 

It is necessary to have tight silos, with 
smooth, perpendicular walls, the opposite walls 
to be equally distant from each other, in all 
places, in order to preserve green forage per- 
fectly. It is also necessary that the walls 
should be strong enough to stand heavy press- 
ure ; also that they should remain tight while 
the forage remains enclosed in them, and not 
absorb the juice from the forage. These are 
the ends to be sought in building .a good silo ; 
and it is of comparatively small importance 
how they are made or of what material, if 
these ends are attained. I seldom visit a silo 
and find these conditions fulfilled. 

If any one will examine his silo carefully, 
with a good, long, straight edge, and measure 
the distance carefully between the opposite 
walls with a rod just long enough to touch 
each end at the narrowest place, and have 
every covering plank cut \ inch shorter than 
his rod, he will realize the importance of the 
conditions above stated, and give attention 
to them, because the cover cannot be pressed 
down evenly if it binds anywhere upon the 



Preservijtg Green Forage jj 

walls ; and, wherever it binds, the air will get 
under the plank and spoil the forage. An- 
other reason is that, if the walls are uneven, 
the forage as it descends under pressure will 
be crowded from the wall wherever a bulcje 
exists, and, when it passes the bulge, it will let 
in the air. The same holds true in pressing 
the cover down evenly, which is one reason 
why pressing by screws upon timbers placed 
across the plank covering is so much better 
than weighting. If these things are carefully 
attended to, there will be no waste whatever 
on top or around the walls, unless the cover is 
allowed to come up when removing the plank 
for cutting down the forage. The pressure 
should not be removed from any plank except- 
ing those that are removed for the purpose of 
cutting down. This removal is the cause of so 
much waste in so many silos. I he governors 
will remove the air from the bulk of the forage, 
and prevent heat or fermentation, or any foul 
odor or damage ; but air getting in from the 
outside will cause the forage to mould and 
produce black rot. The air does not get into 
the forage through the face of the perpendicu- 
lar cut, if under proper pressure, and if cut 
down with a sharp hay-knife. The whole cover 
should not be removed from all the top at one 



y8 Colcord's System of 

time, as the action of the air gives it double 
the acidity to be found in the forage 2 feet 
below the top layer that has been forked over. 
These facts I know from personal experience, 
observation, and chemical tests. Whenever I 
have complaints about silos in which the gov- 
ernors are used, I try to ascertain the cause of 
the trouble. I have never found it to be in the 
governor, and have always been able to find the 
cause. In one instance, I found a large amount 
of liquid in the bottom ; also, that the water- 
line in the earth all around the silo was pre- 
cisely the same as inside. The silo had no 
drains around or from it. In another instance, 
I found the governor in a cheap wooden silo. 
In the centre of the silo the forage was perfect, 
but some quite large holes in the boards of 
which the silo walls were made had given ac- 
cess to air, which caused the forage to go to 
black rot, and left large vacant places in the 
forage, large enough for a man to lie down in. 
It was not weighted heavily enough. Still, it 
had no true fermentation in it. 

Most of the troubles, I find, and they are 
quite common, are in light weighting, uneven 
walls, and covers that would not go down inside 
the walls, the planks being too long to pass the 
numerous large bulges. To one man I sent 



Preserving Greeit Forage 79 

two governors to go into his two silos. He put 
both into one silo, none into the other. The 
defects in the walls caused in some places 3 
inches of waste around the silo containing the 
governors. The other silo had about i foot 
of waste around the walls. His silo was too 
far away for me to visit, and I do not know 
whether he had true fermentation in either of 
them ; but he was satisfied with the governors, 
and contemplates building more silos and or- 
dering more governors. 

There is another great trouble I have found, 
which is mixing my system, without heat or 
fermentation, with the opposite one of slow 
filling and light weighting, with heat. These 
two systems are incompatible, and should never 
be mixed or confounded, no matter who sug- 
gests or advises it. It has spoiled some of my 
best work, even after perfect forage had been 
made in all parts of the silo. It injures the 
forage to remove the pressure faster than the 
forage is removed. ' 

I do not object to weighting if it can be 
done so as to press down the cover evenly, 
as could be done by placing planks across the 
cover and weighting upon them ; but it would 
then be very difficult to remove the weight 



8o Colcord's System of 

and plank from that part which is wanted to 
cut down without disturbing the other plank 
and getting air into the forage. 



REMEDY FOR FAULTY SILOS. 

Where silo walls are made of heavy stone 
masonry, they can be faced smooth by floating 
a coat of coarse sand and pure cement, fre- 
quently using a long, straight edge in every 
direction, until the depressions in the surfaces 
are all filled ; or, in case the wall is very un- 
even, perpendicular timber could be firmly 
placed in front of the face, and a straight, wide 
plank placed between the timber and the wall, 
arranged to slide up evenly, and cement mortar 
(no lime) filled in between, daily, to the top. 

If such walls are strong and well made, and 
T rails of railroad iron, i foot longer than the 
silo is wide, can be obtained, openings can be 
cut out of the bottom of the silo just large enough 
to admit the rail about 3 inches below the bot- 
tom of the silo, and under the walls about i foot 
on one side, and 6 or 8 inches on the other 
side, to allow the rail to drop in and be placed 
firmly, 6 inches under each wall. A piece of 
iron rod, i inch in diameter, is bent so as to 
form, midway between its ends, an eye large 



Preserving Green Forage 8i 

enough to receive a hook on the end of a long 
iron rod, i Y^ inch in diameter. The ends of 
said rod are bent so as to form a stirrup, or 
loop, large enough to slip over the railroad iron. 

The said long iron rod, having a hook on its 
lower end, has a long screw cut on its upper 
end, to receive a double nut and 6-inch washer. 
The long rods are made to reach from the 
bottom up to from 4 to 5 feet above the top of 
the silo, and the upper ends of said long rods 
pass through 8x8 timbers, upon which the 
double nuts and washers bear for the purpose 
of producing the desired pressure on the forage. 
These long rods are placed along the side walls, 
directly opposite to each other, commencing 
not more than 4 feet from the ends of the silo, 
and not more than 8 feet apart. Of course, 
these long rods are better built into the centre 
of the walls, as they serve to help hold up the 
walls when under pressure. The long rods 
should be placed as close as possible to the 
side walls of the silo. I have put these long 
rods in, both ways, in the centre and outside 
the walls. I have ordered them of the Boston 
Bolt Company, describing them as bolts. They 
came just what I wanted, at very satisfactory 
prices. 

The irons across the bottom should have a 



82 Colcord's System of 

good bearing under the walls. Otherwise, if 
the bearing is just under the edge, the pressure, 
together with the lateral pressure of the forage, 
may cause the wall to topple over. 



[From the Dairy World, October, 1886.] 

ENSILAGE AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 

A NEW DEPARTURE IN PRESERVING GREEN FOD- 
DER. THE TESTIMONY OF EXPERTS. 

AIR PERFECTLY EXCLUDED. THE 

FORAGE COMES OUT SWEET. 

The nature of ensilage is so well attested 
and understood in Europe and America that 
no plea is longer necessary in its defence. The 
only question now to be considered is as to 
the best and cheapest means of preparing the 
fodder. It is not necessary to go over the 
means heretofore used to prevent fermentation. 
The intellieence of inventors has been directed 
constantly to the easiest and most perfect 
means of keeping fermentation within bounds, 
or of preventing its action unduly. The 
measure of success with silos is in the more 
or less perfect exclusion of the air. If this is 
perfectly accomplished at the time of filling 



Preserving Greeii Forage 83 

the silo, there will be neither heat, fermenta- 
tion, decomposition, nor foul odor. 

The theory of filling the silo slowly and 
allowing the temperature to rise from 122° to 
180*^, to kill the bacteria, Mr. Colcord says, is 
a fallacy. The fermentation cannot be con- 
trolled. The ensilage is always sour first, and 
becomes sweet (that is, not so acid) by progres- 
sive fermentation, with foul odor, and always 
at the expense of the quantity as well as the 
quality of the forage. By the system here 
described, these changes do not occur. The 
forage is kept in its natural condition, as 
follows : — 

" Sweet ensilage, as commonly understood, 
does not represent preserved green forage 
produced by this system. The term 'sweet,' 
as originally used, was not used in a sense 
as opposite to sour, but as opposed to putrid 
(as sweet meat). 

" The average quantity of ensilage, as here- 
tofore made, that can be fed daily, is about forty 
pounds. The cattle do not care for more ; but 
forage made by this system and device can be 
fed sixty pounds or more daily, and all of it 
eaten without any waste, giving the best re- 
sults, even better than fresh-cut fodder. 

" The most interesting feature in this system 



84 Colcord's System of 

is its economy. From corn can be raised the 
heaviest and best crop of forage at the lowest 
cost. The big butts contain the most sugar 
and starch. By this system, these large stocks 
are preserved, and come out in a soft and 
pulpy state, and are all eaten. By those who 
have tested it by keeping accurate account, the 
average cost of preserved green forage is' ^2 
per ton. In feeding value, three tons of it are 
equal to one ton of the best hay, making pre- 
served green forage at $6 equal to hay that can 
be readily sold for $18. Land that will pro- 
duce three tons of hay will produce eighteen 
tons of green forage and a crop of green rye 
annually, which will give three times the results 
in dairy products and manure, and that con- 
tinuously, upon the same land." 

It is found to have been demonstrated that 
the silo governor, invented by Mn S. M. Col- 
cord, of Dover, Mass., holds the ensilage with- 
out heat or fermentation, controlling the opera- 
tion and changes going on in the silo ; that it 
removes the air, and holds the contents per- 
fectly, precisely as any food is held in air-tight 
packages ; and that it can be appHed and used 
in old as well as new silos. 

When we speak of fermentation and heat, 
the idea is not intended to be conveyed that a 



Preserving Green Forage 85 

silo can be filled with Qrreen vesjetable matter 
without eliminating heat. Any succulent vege- 
table matter piled together in the presence of 
air commences to heat. If allowed to go on, 
destructive fermentation sets in, and at length 
the whole mass becomes putrid and rotten. 



ELIMINATING THE AIR. 

The various means heretofore used have only 
measurably arrested this fermentation, and the 
measure of success has been in just proportion 
to the exclusion of the air. Not until the in- 
vention of Mr. Colcord, a retired druggist of 
Dover, Mass., have we had means of governing 
this fermentation at will, or in time to prevent 
more or less destructive fermentation. The 
means used by him was the result of scientific 
study, through his knowledge of chemistry and 
chemical action. 



[From the Indiafta Farmer, May 21, 1SS7.] 

PRESERVING GREEN FOOD. 

SOMETHING NEW AND IMPORTANT IN LIVE STOCK 
ECONOMY. 

Mr. S. M. Colcord, of Dover, Mass., one of 
the best chemists in the United States, has 



86 Colcord's System of 

done the live stock industry a great good in 
solving the question of preserving green food. 
During the period of strongest opposition to 
the ensilage methods, it will be remembered 
that the Indiana Farmer maintained that the 
success of it was "only a question of skill in 
construction of silos," and that it was "non- 
sense to say that we could preserve green fruit 
by the gallon or more, and could not also ex- 
clude the air from the silo," and, further, that 
"genius and science would satisfactorily solve 
this matter." And so, while the Farmer does 
not lay special claim to prevision, reasoning 
from known data, its prediction seems to be 
fulfilled in the invention of Mr. Colcord. At 
our request, he has furnished us with cuts and 
some data to explain his invention. Like the 
splendid chemist and scientist he is, he seems 
to have gone about this work with the strong 
common sense that, to preserve green food, 
the element usually barring that end was to 
be eliminated, or overcome. The invention 
plainly goes directly to the point of excluding 
the air, which causes over-fermentation and 
undue action upon the food. Mr. Colcord says 
that the high temperature theory is a fallacy. 



Preserving Green Forage Sj 



[From the Farm, Field, and Stockman, iS8S.] 

THE COLCORD ENSILAGE EXPERI- 
MENTS. 

We received on March lo, from Mr. S. M. 
Colcord, three days from Dover, Mass., a mail 
package of Indian corn ensilage, as perfect as 
when in the fresh state. There was no evi- 
dence of heat or fermentation, no acidity or 
considerable change from the green state, the 
leaves, stalks, and the grains of corn being 
quite normal ; the odor pleasant, like fresh 
barley must, when freshly taken from the 
boilers. Last season, we noticed at length 
and illustrated Mr. Colcord's system of preserv- 
ing green fodder in the silo, by means of an 
apparatus (governor) that perfectly excludes 
the air. We believe now, as we then stated, 
that it was a scientifically perfect means of 
preserving any green forage for winter feeding, 
in a natural state, including its juices and 
other normal qualities. The journey of three 
days, simply wrapped in paper, had not essen- 
tially altered its qualities. In fact, city horses 
ate it and whinnied for more. The preserving 
of ensilage without heat or fermentation is a 
long step in advance ; and we hope to see this 



8S Colcord's Systciii of 

process, as now perfected, largely adopted in 
the West, especially by dairymen who wish to 
make the best possible winter milk and its prod- 
ucts. To the end that our readers may un- 
derstand in all its details, we give space this 
week to a communication from Mr. Colcord, 
as being important to every person who feeds 
or proposes to feed ensilage, over the wide 
area in which the Far^n, Field, and Stockman 
is circulated. 



The following is Mr. Colcord's communication: — 

POSSIBILITIES OF PRESERVING GREEN 
FORAGE. 

" Much of my time the past year has been 
devoted to building a perfect silo, in which I 
could try any required experiment, to find out 
a possible way of preserving green forage by 
cold pressure, that would fairly or nearly rep- 
resent canned goods. Knowing your wish for 
the truth in this direction, I send you the 
results of my labors and the means I used to 
prove the facts. 

" My experiments cover all the ground from 
planting to feeding, from construction of silo 
to the machinery and implements for handling 



Preserving Green Forage 89 

the corn, as well as the preserved forage, also 
the connection, arrangement, and convenience 
of the barn and silo. 

"My system differs from anything advanced 
by others, is opposed to the general mode of 
producing ensilage, and should not be mixed 
up or confounded with other methods or ma- 
nipulations, as the results are unlike. The 
experiments were intended to show the possi- 
bilities in preserving green forage, to find out 
what can be done in that direction, and the 
way to do it, as a basis for practical working 
in farm operations. 

" The results show that the principal things 
to be done for success are to have a tight silo, 
or pit, drained at the bottom outside ; to have 
the walls perpendicular, smooth and level-faced, 
with a drip pipe from the centre at the bottom 
to the outside, terminating with a stop-cock. 
A governor should be placed at the bottom of 
the pit, connecting with the drip pipe. When 
the pit is half to two-thirds filled, a second 
governor should be put in. When the pit is 
full, the corn should be trodden down level 
and covered with 2-inch plank, placed directly 
upon the corn. It should then be weighted or 
pressed, to give 2 or more feet of juice from 



90 Colcord's System of 

the corn at the bottom. A proper observance 
of the conditions will produce uniform results 
with entire success." 



WHAT MY NEIGHBORS SAY. 

Mr. S. M. Colcord: 

Dear Sir, — I wish to add my testimony and 
faith in your system of preserving green forage. 
I became very much interested in your experi- 
ments while putting up the staging for build- 
ing your silo, and witnessing your success in 
getting a perfect pit, and afterwards noticing 
your care and attention to every detail while 
I was running the engine and cutter for cut- 
ting and elevating the fodder into the pit ; and 
all the while I was building, or rather extend- 
ing, the barn over the silo. To me, your plans 
were a marvelous conception, and your success 
a wonderful achievement. I have seen nothing 
in ensilage to compare with green forage pre- 
served with your device. I was rather incred- 
ulous until I saw your results. But now that 
I can see such a mass of vegetable matter pre- 
served without heat or fermentation (very nearly 
like the vegetables put in tin cans, by heat 
without fermentation), all the air being taken 



Preserving Gree^i Forage 91 

out and its place occupied by juice pressed from 
the corn, and this cut down vertically from top 
to bottom as it is being fed out, leaving a hard 
face continuously, from vvhich juice can be 
squeezed out of a handful of it taken from 
any part of the pit; and, added to this, the 
fact of there being no heat or fermentation in 
it, or any odor of ensilage from it, or any 
waste on the top or around the sides, or at 
the feeding-troughs, even when the cows are 
eating an average of 70 pounds daily weighed 
out to them, and yielding double the results of 
any other feed rations in milk and manure, — 
all this to me is marvelous, and I congratulate 
you upon your success. 

Very truly yours, 

F. W. Sawin. 



Dover, February, 1888. 

We, the undersigned, living near Mr. Col- 
cord's farm, having assisted him in harvesting 
the corn and placing it in the pit, and having 
seen how the silo was built, how the corn was 
covered and compressed, and now being able 
to see the results as to quality and quantity of 
forage, the milk and the manure, with the very 



92 Colcord's System of 

small quantity of hay and grain he is feeding, 
and the fine appearance of the stock fed on 
this preserved corn, which is daily increasing 
in weight, also in the yield of milk, — from 
our knowledge we are happy to indorse his 
statements : that the contents of the silo are 
saturated with juice from the corn from top 
to bottom ; that there is no ensilage odor in 
the barn or silo ; that there is no waste of 
fodder in the silo or in the cribs. We believe 
that his system of preserving green forage is 
the true one, and are happy to state that 
his experiments are a success, and that any 
one by following his methods may be sure of 
success every time, with less than half the ex- 
pense of feeding in the ordinary way. 

Warren Blackman. 
Irving Colburn. 
Granville Colburn. 
James Duffield. 
James B. Coughlan. 



Preserving Green Forage 93 



Dover, Feb. 15, 1888. 
Mr. Samuel M. Colcord : 

Sir, — Thinking you might like to have it, it 
is with pleasure that I give you this testimony. 
Having been employed by S. M. Colcord for 
six months in 1887 upon his silo and barn, 
from the construction of the walls to the fillins: 
and finishing of the silo and barn, having had 
full knowledge of his theories and experiments, 
seen them tested and proved, and having ex- 
amined his tests and methods, and read what 
he has written and what has been published 
in the papers about his system and methods, I 
feel impelled to add my testimony as to the 
truth of the statements made. They are not 
exaggerated statements. I know them to be 
true; for I have daily taken the temperature in 
the silo myself, and measured the amount of 
juice at the bottom. I know that there has 
been no heating up of the corn in the pit, and 
no odor of ensilage about the barn or silo. I 
have seen it taken daily from the pit and 
weighed out to the cows. It is all of uniform 
quality, with no waste whatever, and I have 
noticed that it was all eaten up clean. 



94 Colcord's System of 

From what I have seen, I should say that 
the pubhshed statements are rather short of 
the whole truth instead of being overstated. 

H. B. Ryerson. 



Milton, Mass., May 4, 1889. 
Mr. S. M. CoLCORD : 

Dear Sir, — I have been using your gov- 
ernors, as you are aware, for some years past; 
and I thought you might like to know what 
my experience has been with them the past 
two or three years. I must say to you that I 
like them just as well as I did at first, and feel 
sure of good results every time I fill the silo. 
I am not a chemist, and therefore cannot be 
expected to prove every point chemically, as 
you do ; but I am not aware of having ever 
had what you call heat and fermentation in my 
silo since I commenced to use the governors, 
and feel so well satisfied with my results, 
especially when I compare them with those of 
others that do not use the governors, that I do 
not take any interest in the science or art of 
the Fry or any other system, because I feel 
insured against loss, and faith in the governor 
keeps me from all anxiety. 



Preserving Green Forage 95 

I feel to congratulate you upon your success 
in all your experiments, and the perfection of 
your system, and feel sure that others will feel 
as I do about it, whenever they adopt your 
methods, and come to realize the economy and 
great value of your discovery. The cost of 
the governor is a mere trifle compared with 
its use ; and I hope you will live to reap the 
reward you so richly deserve for all the time 
and money you have spent the last ten years 
for the benefit of the farmers. 

Wishing you every success, I am 
Yours sincerely, 

T. E. RUGGLES. 

Having used Mr. Colcord's silo governor for 
some time past with great satisfaction, I cheer- 
fully indorse and coincide with all Mr. Ruggles 
has written in the above letter. 

C. L. COPELAND. 



Dover, May 8, 1889. 
Mr. S. M. CoLCORD : 

Being your nearest neighbor, and quite well 
acquainted with your silo and preserved green 
fodder operations, I must congratulate you 
upon your success in all your experiments, 



96 Colcord's System of 

which I confess is a most agreeable surprise to 
me. I have never seen any ensilage that I 
would care to feed to my stock, and had lost 
all faith in the article, if I ever had any ; but, 
when I came to see the green forage you pre- 
serve, to taste, smell, and squeeze it, to see the 
cattle eat it, the milk and manure that come 
from it, the herd doubled, and you for the first 
time selling hay, my astonishment turned to 
admiration ; and I don't care who knows it. It 
is in the mouths of all your neighbors, — I 
mean the facts and the praise, not the forage. 
If I had not seen it, assisted in harvesting it, 
knowing the last poor crop, and the year 
before seeing two-thirds of your crop blown 
flat to the ground, I could never have believed 
that such results could be realized. I hope 
you will be successful in introducing your sys- 
tem for the benefit of farmers generally, that 
others may reap a like benefit from the silo 
governor that you are doing. 

Yours very truly, 

Allen F. Smith. 



Preserving Green Forage 97 



WHAT THE BUTCHER SAYS. 

Mr. S. M. Colcord: 

Dear Sir, — Having read your statements 
in the papers about your system of pre- 
serving green forage in silos, and being fa- 
miliar with your farm management of stock 
and the results of your feeding for milk 
and beef, I wish to add a few words of testi- 
mony in addition to what others say about you. 
I have watched your operations carefully in 
building silos, raising and harvesting the crop, 
and, since you commenced feeding the pre- 
served forage, have seen you double the herd, 
the milk, and the manure the first year ; and 
now what I want to say is what you have done 
in the way of beef. In former years, I had 
nothing to complain of. It was like other 
people's, and often quite rich in tallow; but, 
since you have been feeding this preserved 
forage, I notice a big change. I could not 
help laughing when I read your account of 
that big cow that you fed the sour ensilage 
to, waited an hour and a half until I killed 
her, and then opened her stomach, and the 
surprise we both felt when we found no gas 
in the stomach, none of the bad smell usually 



98 Colcord's System of 

found in the stomachs of cows just slaugh- 
tered, nothing there but the forage, without any 
acid or bad smell in it. It was exactly as you 
stated it ; and we found the beef was fat and 
well mottled. But what I want to say is that 
the later animals that I have slaughtered from 
your farm are quite an improvement upon that 
one. Your last ones shrank but 33 per cent, 
in weight. They were very fat, and tallowed 
quite light. The meat was unusually well 
mottled with fat, and sold for first quality. 
You know I look over your cattle once or 
twice a week, and what surprised me was how 
that forage can make the change. The hair 
on the cows becomes soft and smooth, the 
skins become fine, soft, and slippery. The 
cows are gentle and very quiet. In fact, I go 
into no barns where I see results equal to 
yours ; and the changes go on so rapidly, after 
they get into yours, that I hardly know the 
cows. There is no doubt that your forage 
and the way you feed is the best thing yet to 
get the best beef. 

J. Pember. 

Medfield, Mass. 



Preserving Green Forage 99 



PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. 

New York, March 12, 1887. 

S. M. CoLCORD, Esq.: 

Dear Sir, — I have been very much inter- 
ested in reading your letter, giving an outline 
of your work for the coming season, in the way 
of developing and perfecting the production of 
Colcord's green fodder. 

I feel like encouraging you in this work. It 
is in the right direction ; and, with your pres- 
ent experience and freedom from prejudices, 
I know of no one so well calculated to meet 
the difficulties connected with the work, and to 
overcome them. My judgment is that you 
will succeed, and with success will come one 
of the greatest improvements ever made to 
perfect and cheapen the proper food for milch 
cows. 

I shall be glad to hear from you at any time, 
and to assist in bringing your improvement 
into notice, etc. Yours very truly, 

Isaac W. White. 

40 Wall Street, New York. 



lOO Colcord's Syste}7i of 



Chicago, Oct. 31, li 

S. M. CoLCORD, Dover, Mass.: 

My dear Sir, — Your interesting letter of 
the 29th is here, and I would like to publish it. 
I like these letters that give exact facts in a 
definite way, and enter into the full details. 
But it has occurred to me that it would do the 
most good to you and the public by reserving 
it until our number of November 17. We are 
to issue 100,000 of that number, full count. 
20,000 of them, at least, will go to dairy and 
stock men. We are willing to do whatever we 
can editorially to make known anything that is 
really sound, and given for the benefit of our 
readers ; but it seems to us that you ought not 
to lose this opportunity of presenting some 
more definite advertisement, and, if possible, 
some cut of your governor, etc. 

Yours very truly, 
Howard & Wilson Publishing Co., 
C. H. Howard, Editor. 

We note what you say in regard to publish- 
ing a book. It is an excellent plan, and you 
ought 10 carry it out. 



Preserving Green Forage loi 

Chicago, April 25, \\ 



Mr. S. M. CoLcoRD 

Dear Sir, — It is our intention to give up 
the greater part of our issue of June 2 to a 
thorough discussion of the important subject 
of ensilage. We should like to have your cir- 
culars, and all the information you can give 
us in regard to this subject, more particularly 
in regard to your process of preserving sweet 
ensilage. We received your sample of sweet 
ensilage some time ago, and, as you are doubt- 
less aware, gave you a very nice notice. 

Our object is to educate our readers, and 
furnish them with the latest and best informa- 
tion on this important subject; and we spare 
no pains or money in making the article as 
complete as possible. If we can do anything 
for you in this issue, we shall be happy to do 
so. Kindly let us hear from you. 

Yours very truly, 

Jas. W. Wilson. 



Chicago, June 21, li 
S. M. CoLcoRD, Esq. : 

Dear Sir, — Your favor of June 18 to Mr. 
Wilson is at hand. We are much interested 



I02 Colcord's System of 

in your letter. Would you object to our pub- 
lishing it? It gives new light upon your 
methods. Of course, we want the paper which 
you promise as to results. Meanwhile, we 
must keep alive the interest in your system. 
Hoping for your permission to publish the 
letter, we remain very sincerely yours, 

C. H. Howard, Editor in chief. 



New York, April 2, 1888. 
S. M. CoLCORD, Esq.: 

Dear Sir, — Your favor of 29th ult. at hand. 
I feel very much interested in the discussion 
of the ensilage question. It seems to me that 
the time is at hand for pushing the discussion, 
and developing your views as to the proper 
way of preserving corn and clover for future 
use. I believe you are the best posted man in 
the country, both practically and scientifically, 
and therefore able to educate the farmers as 
to their interests in this one matter. 

The question clearly is, Will cold storage or 
hot storage make the best article ? The more 
it is discussed, the better for you as well as the 
farmers. Unquestionably, cold storage proc- 
esses are the best, and will produce the best 
results. 



Preserving Green Forage 103 

I hope at an early day to see the discussion 
carried on in the Country Gentleman, published 
in Albany, which has an immense circulation, 
and will aid greatly in bringing your ways and 
ideas to the notice of all advanced farmers. 

I feel that we are on the eve of a great 
change of feeling in regard to ensilage. The 
Riiral New Yorker is soon to issue a number 
devoted to a discussion of the question. They 
have already some points to publish from you. 
I hope you will keep pushing ; and, when you 
hear of an advanced man in the farming line, 
send him a circular, write him, and interest 
him, if possible. Yours truly, 

Isaac W. White. 



New York, July 24, 1888. 
S. M. CoLCORD, Esq. : 

Dear Sir, — Your letter, the Farm^ Field, 
and Stocktnan, and the sample of preserved 
green forage, came duly to hand. I showed the 
sample to the editor of the Rural New Yorker, 
and left your letter with him as an assistance 
in writing an article for his paper, which will 
soon appear, with cuts of forage before feeding, 
and also that taken from the stomach of the 
cow killed by you. I will see that you have a 
copy of the paper. 



104 Colcord's System of 

The Riiral Nezv Yorker people are very 
much interested in your way of preserving 
green corn fodder, and I think are doing much 
to bring you prominently before the farmers 
who are studying up the matter. 

I think, with a little patience on your part, 
you will be the authority on the preservation 
of green fodder. 

Very truly, 

Isaac W. White. 



Boston, July 29, 1888. 
My dear Colcord, — The copy of the Farm, 
Field, and Stockman, which you kindly sent me, 
was duly received. I have read with much 
interest every word relating to your experi- 
ments, which are well stated, and I think must 
be convincing to every candid, intelligent per- 
son interested in the subject of ensilage. 
When the full results of your system of en- 
siloing forage come to be known, there can 
be no doubt about its taking the place of the 
empirical, half-way work now in vogue amongst 
the farmers, on account of its less first cost of 
the silo, or dumping-hole! But time and ex- 
perience will cure them, and when the effects 



Preserving Green Forage 105 

of your preserved forage on the beef, milk, and 
butter become known, as they soon will be 
known, you will see all other methods aban- 
doned. 

It is perfectly clear to my mind that your 
system is the only true one, for obtaining the 
best and tnost profitable results from the food 
fed to animals on the farm, and in time it 
must prevail. 

With my kind regards and best wishes, 

Yours truly, 

J. C. C. 



New York, May 24, 1888. 
S. M. CoLCORD, Esq. : 

Dear Sir, — I am in receipt of your letter of 
the 2ist, and your last contribution in rela- 
tion to the preserved green fodder question. 
I have read both with great and renewed in- 
terest. I was much gratified to see the treat- 
ment you received from the Rural New Yorker. 
Their publication on ensilage gave you a really 
good notice, and was an indorsement. If you 
send me another sample, I will show it to them, 
as well as others I am working with. There is 
one direction in which I wish you would inves- 



io6 Colcord's System of 

tigate. I find, with most of those having expe- 
rience in feeding ensilage to milch cows, that 
their testimony goes to prove that milk, when 
first taken from the cows, seems to be, and is, 
all right ; but when they ship it, — and it is 
often thirty-six hours old before it gets into the 
hands of the consumer, — then it has some- 
thing offensive to it, and complaint is made at 
once. We shipped last year 84,000 gallons ; 
and I wish you would test the milk from the 
use of your preserved forage, not only once, 
but daily, for ten days, keeping it until it 
sours, and having good tasters and smellers 
to test it daily at different times, to see if any 
offensive flavor or odor can be discovered. 

If the milk will stand this test, as ours 
does, where we feed on corn meal, bran mid- 
dlings, cotton-seed meal, oatmeal, hay, and 
corn fodder dried, then I think you are lucky, 
because there then will be no objection to the 
preserved green forage. 

Yours truly, 

Isaac W. White. 



Preserving Green Forage 107 

Rocky Ridge, Md., Jan. 26, 1889. 
Mr. S. M. CoLcoRD : 

Dear Sir, — I have been thinking of writing 
you for quite a while, but neglected doing so. 
Our ensilage turned *out fine. Our corn was 
good, but weather was wet, and very unfavora- 
ble when we commenced to fill. Sometimes 
too wet to get on the field for several days. 
So I did not give your governor as fair a test 
as I wished to do, had I been able to fill 
quicker; but the difference in waste between 
the two pits is very marked. In the one 
without governors, there was about a foot of 
waste around the sides, while, where the gov- 
ernors were, the waste did not average over 
three inches at any point, I think this due to 
the long time we were at filling, caused by 
continued rains, and our inability to get on to 
the field ; but we are thoroughly convinced of 
the worthiness of the governors, and, if we 
live, intend building two more large pits this 
spring, and will send you an order for gov- 
ernors for both pits. 

I take the Farut, Field, and Stockman, and 
read all your articles with much interest. 
With best wishes, I am 

Very truly yours, 

William H. Biggs. 



io8 Colcord's System of 

WHAT LARGE DAIRYMEN SAY. 

New York, May i, 1886. 
Mr. S. M. Colcord: 

Dear Sir, — Your interesting letters of 
26th inst. are at hand, and read with much 
pleasure. I feel very much interested in all 
advances and improvements, and particularly 
so in the direction you have taken. I have 
been studying the ensilage question for some 
time, and am well acquainted, theoretically, 
with the Fry system, and some time ago de- 
cided not to try ensilage, because there was 
too much doubt and uncertainty in the ability 
to produce the article wanted, — namely, sweet 
ensilage. If Colcord's green forage, or fodder, 
can be produced with certainty, and not be 
confounded with the article known as ensilage, 
which has a fearfully black eye, then I want to 
make and use it. 

You can hardly appreciate the strong preju- 
dice against ensilage, and the product of the 
dairy from its use, in this section. It is so 
strong that there is no use in trying to con- 
vince people that it can be made of proper 
quality to feed to milch cows. The only way 



Preserving Green Forage 109 

for milk producers this way is to give up the 
name of silo and ensilage and introduce a new 
article. I know of no one so well situated as 
yourself to open the ball by calling attention 
to " Colcord's Green Forage, or Fodder," as 
being a better article of food than ensilage, one 
being a product of fermentation, and the other 
the preservation of the natural conditions of 
the fodder, stored for future use. 

I see nothing in your past movements to 
prevent you at once assuming this position, to 
attract the attention of farmers, and particu- 
larly those having silos and using ensilage. 
The latter can be informed how to make good 
their expenditures in buildings for trying to 
make a quality of ensilage fit for dairy pur- 
poses. 

Please send a circular to Mr. , at , 

who has a large silo that has not been used for 
several years, and is sending milk to this mar- 
ket from about 200 cows. 

Yours truly, 

I. W. W. 



no Colcord's System of 



PRESERVED GREEN FORAGE FED TO 
YOUNG CALVES. 

I have been in the habit of raising a few of 
my best calves. They are considerable care 
and trouble, before and after they are weaned, 
and require much attention to give them a 
good start in life. I had one dropped last year, 
after my silo was empty. It is now nine 
months old, and has been fed the past five 
months on my preserved green forage, with 
a little shorts, and is looking very nice and 
healthy. I also have three calves, which I 
propose to raise. One is five weeks old, one 
four weeks old, and one two weeks old. The 
oldest had placed before her, when two weeks 
old, a box of this forage, with a little ground 
oats strewn over it, and a bucket of warm 
water, with a little ground oats stirred in, 
placed near it ; and she began tasting and feed- 
ing upon it. In a few days, she ceased to want 
or take any milk, and when a month old was 
eating this food, drinking water, and chewing 
her cud like a cow. The one four weeks old, 
being in the same pen, began doing the same 
thing when two weeks old, and now feeds from 
the same box, contesting with her mate to see 



Preserving Green Forage 1 1 1 

which can eat the fastest. The one two weeks 
old is a large Holstein. Her sire weighed 2,140 
pounds. It was very weak when dropped, very- 
inanimate, and would not take a quart of milk 
a day. Her faeces were very loose and pale 
yellow, and appeared to be growing worse 
instead of better. When ten days old, being 
in the same enclosure with the other two, she 
arose and went for the green forage. The 
next day, she was frisky, her fecal discharges 
became normal, she now eats the same rations 
with the others, all of them doing well. The 
oldest of the three is eating too much to make 
a comely appearance. I shall continue to feed 
them on this forage and shorts, and watch the 
results. If it should prove to be successful, 
and that calves two weeks old will wean them- 
selves on this forage, merely placed before 
them, that it will regulate their bowels, bring 
about healthy discharges, keeping them so 
young in the best condition for growth and 
improvement, it would seem to be a very 
important matter to stockmen. 

It has been my experience with cows that 
any disturbance of their natural functions, like 
failing appetite, scours, or even a gargety con- 
dition, is readily counteracted by feeding on 
this forage alone ; but, as corn Or any one 



112 Colcord's System of 

kind of food is not a perfect ration, the better 
treatment is to have a small quantity of shorts 
or wheat bran fed with it, and not feed green 
forage alone for any great length of time. I 
don't wish to be misunderstood in these state- 
ments. I have had no personal experience in 
feeding ensilage, and *these remarks apply to 
this preserved green forage only, made without 
heat or fermentation ; but from the examina- 
tions I have made, and what I have seen, I 
should judge that ensilage, as generally made 
and fed, would have an opposite effect. 



[From the Massachusetts Ploughman, May 29, 1886.] 

THE "SILO GOVERNOR." 

In the increasing importance attaching to 
the silo as an adjunct to the modern system 
of farming, any improvement proposed for 
its more perfect operation as an ensilage 
maker is certain to be welcomed with eager 
satisfaction. A very great improvement has 
unquestionably been secured by the combined 
ingenuity and scientific experience of S. M, 
Colcord, which was made the subject of in- 
vestigation at a special meeting of farmers 
in the Hall of Ploii^hmaji Building, in which 



Preserving Green Forage 1 1 3 

a large number of ensilage experts took part, 
'and a phonographic report of which will be 
read on the first page of the present issue of 
the Ploughman. It appears that Mr, Colcord's 
attention was first attracted to the fact that the 
contents of no two silos or the fermentations in 
them were ever alike. It was by no means 
certain that, if a silo made good ensilage one 
year, it would do so the next. From a series of 
carefully made investigations into this fact, he 
felt that he had hit upon the discovery of the 
real cause and its remedy. Out of these ob- 
servations and this study was evolved the 
*' Silo Governor." His principal object was to 
prevent the development of bacteria in the 
process of putrid fermentation. The effect of 
the governor on the air in the silo, as the 
ensilage settles down, is to take it out. In what 
way it is done, the explanation of Mr. Colcord 
clearly shows; and he adds the highly impor- 
tant statement that the green forage, under 
his improvement, comes out without showing 
any of the usual results of heat and fermen- 
tation, and, with no destruction to the corn, 
guaranteed a superlatively good quality to the 
product. 

In the silo, as generally worked, there is no 
way for the air to escape except at the top ; 



1 14 Colcord's System of 

and this it cannot do, as a rule, because of the 
extremely heavy weighting and the close pack- 
ing. In consequence, the heat and fermenta- 
tion that take place cause the decomposition 
of the air, whose component parts form new 
compounds with other gases generated by the 
fermentation, thus largely disposing of the air 
and sras. The bacteria obtain their needed 
oxygen from the sugar and starch in the corn, 
and thus detract from the quality of the 
ensilage according to the amount of destruc- 
tion caused. The silo governor, it is claimed 
by its inventor, arrests this work of destruction 
going on in the green forage ; if the air is 
got out of the ensilage, there will be no heat, 
and the fodder will be kept in a natural state ; 
if the juice takes the place of air which has 
been pressed out, it will remain there, and the 
corn fodder will be preserved in it as in syrup 
or vegetable extract. Sugar will be found in 
the heavy butts, and the ensilage will be pre- 
served in better condition for food. Testi- 
monials are offered that, by using the silo 
governor, the ensilage has less acid, is of a 
better color, has no odor, and is moister from 
top to bottom. And the ensilage holds out 
better, besides, being so much more solid in 
feeding. The value of the governor is stated 



Preserving Green Forage 1 1 5 

in a series of intelligible points elicited in the 
discussion at the farmers' meeting ; and we 
would advise a careful perusal of our phono- 
graphic report of the entire proceedings. 



ABOUT FERTILIZERS. 

There is no doubt that fertilizers will con- 
tinue to receive the close attention of farmers. 
The importance of the subject increases daily, 
and deserves the careful attention of all culti- 
vators of the soil. The information that has 
come to us through the laboratory, science, 
and theory, is very great ; yet the information 
imparted to the farmer has not been put in 
such shape as to enable him to reap the full 
benefit, and the farmer has not availed him- 
self of the benefits to himself and his land 
that might have been derived, had he carefully 
studied the subject and made careful experi- 
ments on his land. But, at the present time, 
the outlook seems to be more encouraging ; 
and we may safely look for better results in 
the future, as investigations are now being 
made that promise to give new and better 
light in addition to what we now have. 

The substances composing fertilizers, their 
relative quantities and values, are now better 



ii6 Colcord's System of 

known. Those that are suppHed from the air, 
those that are volatile, and those that are in- 
organic, with formulae for different crops, are 
now accessible to farmers who will take the 
pains to investigate and learn to experiment; 
and any one can buy the individual raw mate- 
rials which his land or crops require, and learn 
to draw largely from nature instead of all from 
the manufacturer, and can compound them to 
his mind, or have them made available for use 
and compounded in the required proportions. 

Mr. Benjamin Randall, Chelsea Street, East 
Boston, a thoroughly reliable miller of many 
years' experience in the business, has done 
work of this kind for me with satisfactory re- 
sults. The gain supposed to be made in this 
way is by bringing the producer and consumer 
together, saving the profits of the middleman. 

Those who cannot designate what they want 
would do well to try the complete fertilizer 
made by J. A. Tucker & Co., 13 Doane Street, 
Boston, known as the Bay State Superphos- 
phates. I have used it for my corn crops, with 
very good results. 

What all farmers should do is to make the 
most of their manure piles. They should feed 
for manure as well as milk, which can be done 
conjointly with increased profit. The manure 



Preserving Green Forage 1 1 7 

piles may be used as compost heaps by, adding 
to them such articles as will enhance their 
value for general purposes, special crops, or 
the special needs of the land. Such articles 
as yield potash, phosphoric acid, soda, mag- 
nesia, nitrogen, and ammonia, may be added 
weekly, spreading them over the piles, and 
saving all the droppings, liquid or solid. This 
I do partially by keeping the piles under cover 
out of the way of frost, passing a current of 
air over them whenever I can get it above the 
freezing point. This removes a large quantity 
of water, retaining the valuable part of the 
liquid manure, and keeps the manure of proper 
consistence for retaining the gases, using for 
bedding sand, loam, sawdust, straw, and other 
dry litter, as absorbents and disinfectants. 
These things add to the manure in quantity 
and quality, and should be used also to get 
the best results mechanically, also saving the 
manure values, that usually escape as gases, 
by fixing or compounding them as they rise 
from the piles. To illustrate, if you spread 
acid superphosphates (which means bone 
treated with sulphuric acid in excess) over the 
jDiles in good mechanical condition for mod- 
erate decomposition, the gases which are 
evolved will unite with the acid phosphates, 



ii8 Colcord's Sy stein of 

and become fixed or non-volatile. This acts 
also as a disinfectant, purifying the air of the 
stable. The sulphuric acid, the phosphoric 
acid, and lime of the bone, being non-volatile, 
are in the best condition to unite chemically 
and mechanically with the volatile principles. 
Each ingredient becomes available for plant 
food. The whole mass is homogeneous, with 
loss reduced to the minimum. 

By feeding for manure such articles as cot- 
ton-seed, flaxseed, or oil-cake, shorts, or wheat- 
bran, while they go to make up a perfect food 
for the cow, producing a greater flow and 
better quality of milk, also improving the 
cattle in flesh, and giving them a fine, comely 
appearance, it is also stated that more than 
half their value goes through the cattle into 
the manure pile. The chemists and the crops 
seem also to prove it. The farmers ought 
also to prove or disprove it in their way by 
feeding a certain number of cows each with 
and without these articles, carefully weighing 
their alvine discharges and planting their ex- 
periment plats in all other ways alike, then 
adding half the grain rations to another por- 
tion of the manure that does not contain the 
grain rations, and again using half the grain 
rations as fertilizer without any manure, also 
usinof a full strain ration without manure. 



Preserving Green Forage 119 

These grain fertilizers to be well mixed with 
soil, to prevent burning up the seed, and 
watered equally, to develop their decomposi- 
tion. I am aware that these experiments 
would not be scientific or good in theory, but 
they would pay for the time and trouble to 
the farmer just the -same; but, if in any way 
he should find that more than half the cost 
of his ofrain o;oes into the manure, and thinks 
it an economical way of making manure, let 
him not overdo the thing by converting his 
herd into fertilizer factories. Many herds are 
already being injured by this crowding process. 

Temperance on the farm will apply to the 
barn and the crops as well as in the house. 
The end sought should be the greatest profit 
with the least loss. This can be done, doubly 
or even trebly, by using this system of mak- 
ing and feeding preserved green forage, and 
making the most and best use of the manure. 

There is one more point about fertilizers : 
it is commutation, a mechanical change of 
state in the ingredients ; it is the difference in 
value of bone between ground or granulated 
bone and fine or flour of bone. The one is 
available the second or third year after being 
applied to the land : the other is available the 
first season. I use the term as somewhat anal- 



1 20 Colcord's System of 

agous to the term used about phosphoric acid, 
and illustrate it as it may be applied to iron. 
If you simply pulverize iron very fine, you can 
so change its condition that you can set fire 
to it with a match, and burn it up. So you 
may commute bones so fine that they will 
become available for plant food very soon after 
being applied to the damp earth, and all' plants 
take their food in liquid form. The reader 
may think that these statements should be 
commuted, to make them available, so I will 
state that, when commercial fertilizers were 
in their infancy, I bought of this same J. A. 
Tucker, before referred to, who was then 
comparatively juvenile and the first superphos- 
phate man I ever heard of. I took some of 
his fresh ground and fleshy bones, ranging in 
size from the point of a needle to a thumb- 
nail, and applied it to a grape-vine in a sickly 
condition vegetating in a small back yard in 
the city, and raised the sickly, emaciated vine 
to the top of a three-story building, training it 
to the sunshine, where I raised quantities of 
grapes upon it annually, the phosphates being 
immediately and continuously available. 

I also visited the w6rks of the same Mr. 
Benjamin Randall before mentioned, and ex- 
amined the various mills in use by his prede- 



Preserving Green Forage 121 

cessors. One of these mills commuted so fine 
that a lump of anthracite coal the size of a 
hen's ^'g^ would fill a quart bottle, and another 
would pulverize hard cobble-stones, the size of 
my two fists, as fast as I could throw them 
into the mill. Mr. Randall was employed by 
his predecessors, the mills afterwards coming 
into his possession, and from long experience 
is the proper person in the proper place to 
produce the best ground bone. The proper 
amount of commutation is a prominent factor 
in the manufacture of fertilizers. 

It would be out of place for me to speak of 
fertilizers, except in a general way, because in 
this little book I try to confine myself to state- 
ments of facts, and say little about what I 
don't know; and fertilizers to me are some- 
thing like oleomargarine and sausages, — vague 
and uncertain in composition, yet having a 
value as food for vegetables and an improved 
food for vegetarians, although unknown com- 
pounds, prescribed as simples. 



122 Colcord's System of 



[From the New England Farmer?^ 

SILOS AND ENSILAGE. 

THE FAVORABLE REPORTS CONTINUE. SOME NOT- 
ABLE EXPERIMENTS. AN AIR-TIGHT SILO. 

One of our letters of inquiry about ensilage 
went to Mr. S. M. Colcord, of Dover, Mass., 
whose response was an invitation to come 
and see his silo, which a representative of the 
Farmer and Homes promptly accepted. Mr. 
Colcord has had a number of years' experience 
with ensilage, and believes in it thoroughly; 
but he also believes that many ensilagists 
allow the contents of their silos to heat and 
ferment so as to be seriously injured. He 
makes the broad assertion that nine-tenths of 
all the ensilage produced fails to fulfil its pos- 
sibilities. He is a chemist as well as farmer, 
and has found in some samples of ensilage 
acetic acid, — in a cow's daily ration of 60 
pounds, an acidity of acid strength equal to 
three gallons of vinegar of standard strength. 
Ensilage so sour or which is partly putrid he 
believes to be unhealthy. Consequently, he 
has spent much time and money in experi- 



Preserving Green Forage 123 

ments looking toward a perfect control of the 
contents of the silo, with a view to making 
ensilaa^e more similar to canned fruits than the 
sour, odoriferous product found in many barns. 
This is to be accomplished by removing the 
air from the silo while filling and after it is 
filled, as air is the medium in which the bac- 
teria of fermentation and decay are conveyed 
from place to place. To prove his theories, 
he built a new silo in the spring, and con- 
structed it with such thoroughness and accu- 
racy that we give an illustration of the appear- 
ance of things when the silo was under way, 
in order to emphasize the care that was taken 
to get accurate results. The picture, made 
from a photograph, shows the framework and 
the walls of the silo just beginning to rise. 
The silo is 32 x 12, 20, with the cement walls 
17 feet high and 3 feet of plank above this. 
This plank annex is filled at first; but, after 
the ensilage settles, none is intended to come 
above the cement wall. The walls are 18 
inches thick, composed of one part cement, 
two jDarts coarse sand, two parts small cobble- 
stones, two parts broken stone, mixed with 
about 30 gallons of water to each barrel of 
cement. The foundation below the wall is 20 
wide and 16 to 20 inches deep, built of cobble- 



124 Colcord's Systan of 

stone and fine gravel, made level on top, and 
thin cement mortar poured over it and fin- 
ished level. This foundation is surrounded 
by a tile drain. The land around it inside 
and outside was also made quite level and 
hard, to receive the staging. The timbers on 
each side the wall were 6x6 inches, about i 
foot higher than the wall was to be built, and 
placed about 5 feet apart. Planks 14 to 16 
inches wide, planed on the inside in a planing 
mill to make them of even thickness, were 
placed on the inside of these timbers so as 
to slide up easily, as the cement set. This 
trough was filled but once daily, which set 
firmly during the night, keeping the walls 
level. The timbers on the inside of the pit 
were erected first. They were straight-grained 
and not twisted. The planks that tied these 
timbers together at the top, middle, and bot- 
tom were 2x8 inches, sawed square at the 
ends, of equal lengths. They were spiked 
firmly to the upright timbers and cross-braced, 
taking the utmost pains to keep the timbers 
exactly equi-distant and plumb. This work 
was so thoroughly done that the walls of this 
pit, when the staging was removed, did not 
vary 1-8 of an inch in length or breadth, from 
top to bottom. The outside timbers were put 



Preserving Green Forage 125 

up equi-distant to match the inside ones, and 
the cross pieces of i x 6 fence boards, 6 feet 
long, nailed to the inside and outside timber, 
and also to the 4x4 outside staging support, 
as shown in the engraving. As the wall was 
built up, these cross pieces were sawed away, 
leaving the inside and outside staging sepa- 
rate, but firm, only tied together at the top. 

The engraving also shows 6 i ^-inch iron 
rods built into the wall from the bottom to 
4 feet above the top. When the walls were 
finished, these rods passed through "^ y.^ cross 
timbers, and were terminated with double 
nuts. 

The silo was filled with corn-stalks and 
ears cut in ^-inch lengths. A cover of 2- 
inch splined planks was then fitted over the 
top, and the joint between the planks and the 
wall was covered with rubber packing. The 
planks were then covered with tarred building 
paper and several inches of fine sand, making 
the whole as perfectly air-tight as possible. 
Then 8 2-inch jack-screws were placed be- 
tween the cover and the ^ ^^ timbers across 
the top, and the requisite pressure given to 
the ensilage, forcing out all of the air, giving 
a density of 50 pounds to the cubic foot. Mr. 
Colcord has an ingenious arrangement of 



126 Cokord's System of 

pipes about the top and bottom, and through 
this silo, by which he can make investigations. 
He has lowered a thermometer into it three 
times a day, and is confident that no heating 
has taken place. He can also draw off the 
juices from the bottom. 

The silo was opened a few days before the 
reporter's visit. The opening was made by 
removing only two of the end planks, and tak- 
ing out a narrow strip, exposing a minimum 
amount of ensilage to the air at a time. The 
ensilage had been so compacted by the intense 
pressure when it was first put in that it had 
to be cut down with a hay-knife, slicing off 
almost like cheese. It was so solid that the 
ensilage next to the opening remained in posi- 
tion, there being no trouble from " caving in." 
The ensilage was the sweetest the Farmer 
man ever saw. There was no perceptible 
sourness or disagreeable taste to it. The odor 
of it was hardly noticeable in the barn, and 
it was very moist. Water could be wrung 
out from samples taken from the top under 
the cover. 

The pipes about the bottom of the silo, that 
allow the exit of the air, favor the rapid set- 
tling of the ensilage as the silo is filled ; and, 
when it was half full, it settled so fast that 3 
inches of juice settled at the bottom. 



Preserving Green Forage 127 

The corn for the ensilage was raised on a 
field that previously produced one-half a ton 
of hay to the acre. Five hundred pounds of 
Tucker's Bay State Superphosphate per acre 
were applied with Kemp's manure-spreader, 
and 500 pounds more were applied in drills. 
The corn was planted with an Eclipse Corn 
Planter, which dropped i kernel every 3 
inches, at the rate of 4 acres per day. 



[From the New England Farmer \ 

SWEET ENSILAGE. 

The readers of these columns will remem- 
ber that last fall we printed a very interesting 
account of a visit to the silo of Mr. Col- 
cord, of Dover, Mass., and illustrated his silo 
in process of construction. It was built air- 
tight, with smooth, perpendicular walls, the 
opposite walls being exactly equal distance 
from each other, so that under pressure the 
fodder might descend with the least lateral 
pressure and the covering come down evenly 
between the walls. Mr. Colcord's aim is to 
preserve ensilage without its heating or chang- 
ing in the least, so that it will be veritably 
analogous to canned goods. On filling the 



128 Colcoi^d's System of 

silo, a slight acetic tendency was noticed, 
which passed away in a short time, some- 
thing not unlike the change in the acidity of 
a Baldwin apple from November to May. 
Carbonic acid was also noticed ; and, as this 
is heavier than air, it was supposed that this 
in a measure displaced the air in the silo, thus 
assisting Mr. Colcord in his desire to make the 
ensilage perfectly free from air, which must be 
present if there is any fermentation. One 
very peculiar thing about the contents of the 
silo, as it filled, was the large amount of juice 
which accumulated at the bottom; but this was 
afterwards absorbed, apparently by capillary 
attraction, and brought even to the very top. 
In feeding the ensilage, it was taken out in 
vertical layers ; and at any time large quanti- 
ties of juice can be squeezed from it, even from 
portions taken from the top. The result of 
this experiment was a perfectly sweet," juicy 
ensilage, without any evidence of putrefac- 
tion, and only slight acidity. The cattle eat 
it readily, there is no waste, and no odor 
from the forage about the barn or on the 
hands or clothing of those handling it. The 
silo was filled with mature corn in full milk, 
just beginning to glaze and ripen, which would 
have yielded about loo bushels of shelled corn, 



Preserving Green Forage 129 

so that by the use of this silo he had no corn 
to husk, shell, or take to the mill. 

The ensilage was fed to 19 head of cattle, 
17 being milch cows. 65 pounds were fed 
daily, with some bran to balance the ration. 
The milk-flow increased, and in this respect 
the showing was very satisfactory ; but the 
o;ain in flesh was even more marked. 16 of 
the cows gained in four months 2,765 pounds, 
and 16 gained 1,224 pounds in 30 days, i of 
them gained in weight an average, within a 
small fraction, of 5 pounds daily during the 30 
days, another 4 Y^ pounds daily, another 3 5-6 
pounds daily. One large cow was fed on 60 
or 70 pounds daily for 90 days, during which 
time she grew in weight 2 pounds and 5 
ounces daily. She was fed 19 pounds of this 
forasre an hour and a half before she was 
killed; and, after being slaughtered, the con- 
tents of her stomach were examined, and found 
to be sweet, with no offensive odor. The ani- 
mal was very meaty. Three days before she 
was butchered, she weighed 1,418. 

The 15th of May the silo was three-fourths 
empty, the corn in the lower part was con- 
densed by pressure to one-half the space occu- 
pied by the upper half, but, on account of the 
absorption of the juice, a cubic foot in the 



130 Colcord^s System of 

upper half weighed a Httle more than a cubic 
foot in the lower half ; yet in feeding value 
they were equal. 

All his hay was fed last year to about half 
the amount of stock, but this year half of the 
hay will be left over from the use of the silo. 
The juice from this forage is odorless, agree- 
able to the taste, and at a temperature of 60 
to 80 degrees turns to a pure, weak corn vin- 
egar. 

This feeding experiment leads Mr. Colcord 
to think that the first process of digestion is 
done in the silo to a great extent, and that a 
certain quantity of acidity is required in this 
first process. If it can be done as well or bet- 
ter without using the vital force of the animal, 
it seems to be a matter of great importance. 



ENSILAGE A PROMOTER OF DIGESTION 
AND ASSIMILATION. 

[I regret that I am unable to give the name of the author of the 
following able article.] 

In ensilage there may be a slight loss in the 
carbo-hydrate elements, and a gain is made in 
protein, and increased digestibility of the rest, 
which gives feeding value to what has often 
been termed the water in ensilage. It is not 



Preserving Green Forage 131 

only easily digested, but also helps digest other 
richer foods, including grain ; and thus, adding 
the natural juices of plants to the mixed ration, 
aids nature to assimilate them without calling 
upon the digestive economy of the animal to 
do all the work. In the other cases, all this 
matter is dried down into a hard condition, and 
must have water to reabsorb it, freshen it up 
and dissolve it, which requires a good deal of 
extra force. If you take an apple, you will find 
the nutriment all in a soluble condition ; and, 
when you take it into the stomach, it is ready 
to go into the circulation at once. If you dry 
that apple, all that nutriment becomes like 
rawhide, and it must be soaked up; and, when 
you have done that, you have changed its con- 
dition. You can never get it back in the same 
condition it was before the drying was done, 
and it takes more energy and force to digest 
that dry food than in its green state. That is 
the pith of the whole matter. 

The nutriment, or the sugar, in dry food is 
not necessarily changed by the evaporation of 
the water, but it is simply breaking the chemi- 
cal union of the water with the rest of the com- 
pound ; and that chemical reunion has got to 
be restored by energies of the stomach, which 
makes extra work and makes it slow. In feed- 



132 Colcord's System of 

ing a cow, you want to give her what she can 
eat in a given time. A dry feed may contain 
as much nutriment ; but you cannot get as 
much out of it, because it takes so long to do 
it that the animal has got to support itself 
while it is being digested. The point is simply 
this : that in the green stage the albumen and 
other matter is, to a large extent, already in 
solution in a condition in which, when it is 
separated from the fibrous matter, it can be 
taken right into the circulation and appropri- 
ated. In wetting or steaming fodder, it will 
help considerably; but it will not overcome the 
change which the feed undergoes in the desic- 
cation and soaking up again. 



[From the Farm, Field, and Stockman, March 2, 1S89.] 

COLCORD'S PRESERVED GREEN FORAGE. 

GREAT GAIN IN FLESH. 

The following letter has been received from 
Mr. Colcord : — 

Referring to my communication published 
in the Farin, Field, and Stockjitan, Nov. 17, 
1888, after I had filled my silo with very poor 
green frosted fodder, I now send you the re- 
port of my results with that crop. 



Preserving Green Forage 133 

I pressed the cover down upon the corn 
slowly, and perfectly level, until I had in the 
bottom of the silo 20 inches of juice. There 
was an unusually small quantity of carbonic 
and acetic acids that came out of the corn, but 
enough to displace, the air in it, and prevent 
heat and fermentation. Much of these acids 
was absorbed by the juice, causing a partial 
vacuum, which, with the pressure, set up capil- 
lary attraction, and brought up the juice evenly 
throughout the mass to the top plank. While 
this was going on, the temperature was gradu- 
ally falling in the silo. (I keep a thermometer 
in the centre of the silo, and examine it daily.) 
Upon opening the silo to feed from it, we 
could press out 8 to 10 ounces of the juice 
from 16 ounces of the forage taken from any 
part of the silo. Having a surplus quantity of 
juice at the bottom, we drew it off and fed 6 
pounds, mixed with shorts, daily to each cow. 
This juice was clear, sweet, and nearly odor- 
less. 

Twelve of my cows gained in weight, from 
June to December i, 1,096 pounds, and were 
in very good condition ; but upon this gain, 
fed upon this forage 60 pounds daily, with 2 
quarts gluten meal and 8 quarts shorts, their 
gain was 589 pounds additional in thirty days, 



134 Colcord's System of 

the milkers nearly doubling their milk, the 
others gaining in weight. 

Considering the quality of the corn put into 
the silo, I think this is a remarkable showing; 
and it would seem to be an impossibility for 
any corn crop to be a failure, with a good silo. 

Green forage preserved by this system is 
better and of s^reater feedino- value durinsf the 

o o o 

last month than during the first month, taking 
it from the silo. 

I can see no reason to doubt perfect success 
every year with the crop, the silo, the system, 
and the silo governor. By using this system, 
there is no waste or loss of the corn. By using 
the governor, all the air and free gases are re- 
moved, which prevents heat and fermentation 
(we have never had above ']'^° of heat): conse- 
quently, we have no foul odors, and 50 per 
cent, more of this forage can be fed to the cat- 
tle than of ordinary ensilage. 

THE ADVANTAGE OF JUICE. 

There is also a great advantage in having 
the juice from the corn taken up evenly 
throughout the mass, reducing the tempera- 
ture, producing a condition similar to canned 
goods and superior, inasmuch as the corn is 
soaking under pressure in free juice, render- 



Preserving Green Forage 135 

ing it soft and pulpy, more assimilable as 
food, and of much greater feeding value. 

My stock was fed upon this forage until July 
20. After that time, the milk-flow fell off 
about half. I commenced feeding the pre- 
served forage again, November 25 ; and during 
the next thirty-five days the flow of milk 
doubled from the same cows, and the dry 
stock increased in flesh, in proportion to the 
increased flow of milk from the milkers. 

As I weigh the fodder every time it is fed, 
and as the cows are weighed every thirty days, 
I am able to speak accurately as to results. I 
have tried to make a comparison with green 
corn fresh from the field ; but, as my cows 
would not eat a large part of the green stalks, 
I could not get at a sufficiently accurate esti- 
mate for publication. My men who weighed 
550 pounds of the fresh green corn, at a 
feed, thought that amount was about equal to 
375 pounds of the preserved green forage. 

I put into a very good silo, constructed on 
my system, last year, two governors for W. H. 
Bent, Natick, Mass. I have examined the 
forage that he is now feeding from it to a very 
fine herd of blooded Holsteins. The quality 
of the preserved forage was equal to mine, but 
I have not compared his feeding results with 



136 Colcord's System of 

mine. They cannot be the same, because he 
has taken from one of his cows 40 cans (6S0 
pounds) of milk in ten days. None of my 
cows will hold as much in twenty-four hours, 
to say nothing of gaining on that. 

I mention this here to show that others 
can get just as good feed and results by using 
my system and device as I do. The gov- 
ernors are an economical investment in any 
silo ; but the better the silo, the more perfect 
will be the preserved fodder. 

The importance of this system may be seen 
when we notice how it differs from ordinary 
ensilage. By this system, the forage is pre- 
served without heat or fermentation, without 
foul odor, without any waste ; it is contin- 
ually improving in the silo, is soft and pulpy, 
and is improving in feeding value while being 
fed out ; as long as it lasts, its quality is im- 
proved, its assimilation and feeding value aug- 
mented, by soaking in its own juice under 
pressure, under similar but improved condi- 
tions to canned goods. 

These conditions are quite the reverse with 
ensilage. Ensilage is not uniform in quality, 
and different lots vary very much. Even with 
the same amount of care, it cannot be de- 
pended upon for quality in any case, which 



Preserving Green Forage 137 

accounts for the great number of abandoned 
silos, although it is often quite good, but it 
will never bear a good comparison with this 
preserved forage. It is very seldom that a 
peck of ensilage can be taken into a warm 
room and kept a few hours without filling the 
room with very disagreeable odor; and people 
who have handled ensilage for a short time, 
upon entering a warm room, will usually fill it 
with disagreeable odor, unless their clothing 
has been previously changed. But this is not 
the case with this preserved forage. I feed 
regular rations, weighed, to my cows daily, 
from 60 to 70 pounds, without any waste, and 
have fed as high as 85 pounds to large cows. 
This cannot be done with ensilage. My silo 
is in my barn; and, even when I am feeding 20 
cows in the same barn, people do not notice 
the odor of ensilage. I am aware that it is 
difficult for people to understand these state- 
ments who have not seen it, but people who 
have seen these things in my barn attest to 
these facts. 

This system is in operation upon my farm, 
and is open to the inspection of any one at 
any time, or to any officers, agents, or Com- 
mittees of Institutes, Farmers' Clubs, or 
Granges, wishing to make examinations. As 



138 Colcord's System of 

there is no secret about it, all information and 
every facility is freely given to make examina- 
tions ; and I will answer any calls upon me to 
explain this system and device before any 
meeting of such bodies as Boards of Agricult- 
ure or Experiment Stations. 



[From the Farm, Field, and Stockman, July 14, 18S8.] 

EXPERIMENTS WITH MILK AND CREAM. 

BY S. M. COLCORD. 

From a herd of grade cows, fed on Colcord's 
preserved corn, with half-rations of shorts and 
cotton-seed, sixteen cows were taken from a 
rich pasture of fresh grass, and kept in the 
barn, the temperature being an average of 85°. 
The increase of milk upon 65 pounds daily 
ration of this forage was one can daily, without 
turning the cows out. 

June 15, sixteen pints of milk were taken, 
one pint from each cow's, from the last quart of 
each milking. It was mixed together, and set 
by the Cooley system, submerged at a tem- 
perature of 48° sixteen hours, the temperature 
at the end of the setting being 58°. The yield 
of cream was four and one-half inches to eigh- 



Preserving Green Forage 1 39 

teen inches depth of milk, just one-fourth, or 
25 per cent, cream. 

June 16, sixteen pints of milk taken, one 
pint each from same cows, fed the same way, 
setting and temperature the same. This milk 
was taken from all that the cows gave, the 
setting was twelve hours, with three inches 
of cream to eighteen inches depth. Set to 
twenty-four hours, with about the same amount 
of cream. The cows not turned out, and held 
their increase of milk. 

June 17, sixteen pints taken, one pint from 
each cow, from the last half of the milking of 
each cow, mixed and set the same, tempera- 
ture of the weather 86°, of the water setting 
58°. Yield of cream, four inches to eighteen 
inches, the cows bellowing in the hot barn for 
cool water and liberty. The yield of milk fell 
short one can the past twenty-four hours. 

The cream in all these trials was yellow, 
sweet, and odorless of any taint, and was used 
upon the table morning, noon, and night, by 
all the family (eight persons), upon oatmeal, 
beans, bread, sweet cakes, in tea, coffee, and in 
several other ways, the quality uniform in all 
the samples, and the best I have ever seen. 

June 17, four days, nine hours, after setting, 
the milk soured, the cream became acid. Three 



140 Colcord's System of 

days, nine hours, after setting, the milk was 
sweet, the cream sHghtly acid. Two days, 
nine hours, after setting, the milk was sweet, 
the cream sweet. During this time, the 
weather has varied 30°, with rain, thunder, and 
lightning. The setting and refrigerator has 
varied about 10°. 

June 20, five days, nine hours, milk and 
cream both sour. Four days, nine hours, milk 
acid, cream sour. Three days, nine hours, 
milk sweet, cream acid. 

There has been no odor of ensilage or any 
bad odor, except that of sour milk or cream. 
Since the 15th and i6th, the temperature has 
been kept at 58°. The samples are all uni- 
form, without a taint of foul odor of any kind. 
The milk and cream are faultless as to color, 
odor, and taste. 

June 26, the curd was partially separated 
from the whey. The samples are all uniform, 
without a taint of foul odor of any kind. The 
taste of curd and whey is very pleasant, cheesy^ 
with no mould, not a suspicion of ensilage 
taste or odor. The cream is thick, cheesy, of 
fine odor, and mixed with whey. There is not 
a shade of taste or smell in the direction of 
ensilage. These samples are now kept at 
a temperature of 38°, and are examined fre- 



Preserving Green Forage 141 

quently. I have never seen samples of milk 
and cream as pure, sweet, and fine-flavored 
before. They appear to be faultless. The ex- 
aminations will continue until further changes 
are noticed. 

I have been induced to make these examina- 
tions at the request of parties who furnish the 
best milk to New York City, for the purpose of 
knowing whether Colcord's preserved green 
forage imparts any odor or taste of ensilage to 
milk or cream. I believe it impossible to get 
better milk or cream from any other food given 
to cows. 



[From the Rural New Yorker. 

PATENT SILAGE. 



February i, we received by mail, from Mr. 
S. M. Colcord, of Dover, Mass., about a pound 
of silage, which was taken from the silo three 
days before its arrival. It was the most per- 
fect specimen of preserved fodder we have 
ever seen, sweet and fragrant. It was sampled 
by many visitors, several of whom were per- 
fectly willing to put it into their mouths and 
taste it. We have kept that package of silage 
on a desk in a warm room ever since. It is 
now perfectly dry, green and sweet, in far bet- 



142 Colcord's System of 

ter condition than any corn fodder we have 
seen. 

[Following the above, and in the same paper, 
there was printed a description of the Colcord 
process of preserving green forage without 
heat or fermentation, said description being 
very similar to that printed on p. 112 of this 
treatise.] 

[From the New England Farmer, April, 6, 18S9.] 

A SUGGESTION FOR THE EXPERIMENT 
STATIONS. 

The Rural New Yorker, noticing the ensi- 
lage ideas of Mr. S. M. Colcord, which have 
been noticed several times in these columns, 
says, "We have long believed that this process 
of preparing silage will some day revolution- 
ize the ensilage business." The Rural Nem 
Yorker says in print what the editors of this 
paper have frequently said to Mr. Colcord 
personally, that the experiment stations should 
test this patent system of ensilage-making, side 
by side with the ordinary silo. 



Preserving Green Forage 143 



THE PRESERVATION OF ENSILAGE. 

BY S. M. COLCORD, DOVER, MASS. 

[Published in the Report of the State Board of Agriculture of 
Pennsylvania, iSSS.] 

For ten years past, I have made a study of 
preserving green forage, and a great deal of 
my time has been spent in visiting silos and 
making examinations of their contents. There 
is a great deal of truth in the claims made for 
ensilage, especially in the direction of assimila- 
tion and the digestion of food, analogous in 
some degree to the difference between grapes 
and raisins, or between green and dry forage. 
There is also a great deal of truth in the 
objections made to ensilage as usually fed to 
cattle, especially in the direction of its being 
injured or spoiled by heat and fermentation in 
the silo, rendering it unfit for wholesome food. 
It has been found so difficult to preserve it 
without heat and consequent fermentation that 
the advice of scientific men has been in the 
direction of increasing the heat for the purpose 
of germinating the bacteria in true fermenta- 
tion and killing them by excess of heat, as 



144 Colcord's System of 

they germinate at a temperature above So" and 
are killed above 122° Fahrenheit. The ob- 
jection to this theory and practice is that true 
fermentation cannot be controlled or stopped 
before the ensilage becomes unfit for food, as 
it has been proved that the germs of bacteria 
will develop after having been exposed to a 
temperature of 212° for some hours. 

I have therefore directed my experiments 
with a view of preventing heat and fermenta- 
tion entirely, as the only sure way of preserving 
green forage ; and, in order to ascertain the 
possibilities of this system, I built a perfectly 
air-tight silo, with smooth, perpendicular walls, 
capacity of 6,528 cubic feet, about 150 tons, 
384 square feet of top surface, arranged to 
press with jack-screws, at pleasure, wherever 
and whenever wanted ; filled it with green 
corn in full milk, cut in half-inch lengths, lev- 
elled carefully to level lines, i foot apart, 
striped around the walls with a plumbago 
pencil ; covered it with 2-inch splined plank, 
and around the sides with 45^ -inch rubber 
packing, then covered with two thicknesses 
of thick paper, kept in place with 4 inches of 
sand all over it. 

Three governors, consisting of i-inch iron 
pipe made into frames 6 by 26 feet, with 



Preserving Green Forage 145 

%-inch holes on the under sides, every 6 
inches, were placed one at the bottom, one in 
the centre, and one on the top of this mass 
of corn, with outlets at the bottom and top, 
closed with stop-cocks and plugs. These 
governors were sleeved together, and so ar- 
ranged that the corn could not stop the ^- 
inch holes, but would leave a continuous 
passage under the pipes for the air and gases 
to get into the pipes and be conveyed through 
the pipes to the outside through the openings 
at top and bottom, thus leaving an air-hole 
within 3 to 4 feet of every part of the forage. 
It is not usual to get any juice from the corn 
in making ensilage, even with 200 pounds 
weighting to the square foot; but, with this 
device, the action was so prompt and decided 
that I had 2 to 3 inches of juice from the corn 
all over the bottom of the silo before it was 
three-quarters full, and some days before it was 
covered. I took the temperature daily at dif- 
ferent depths, in the centre, which was never 
over 72° in any part of the silo. This was 
about the temperature outside when we com- 
menced filling. Six feet from the bottom, the 
mercury stood 56° to 58°, which is above the 
highest temperature we now have, four months 
after filling. The forage does not heat up 



146 Colcord's System of 

when removed from the silo, piled in a heap 
and left exposed to the air, as ensilage does. 

The silo being sealed up air-tight, all the gas 
coming from it had to come out through the 
governors at the top of the silo. The next 
mornino; after commencins^ to fill, carbonic 
acid was abundant. The second day, we had 
acetic acid, with no rise of temperature. These 
two acids appeared to be all that came out of 
the silo. They were very pure and odorless. 
It is fair to presume that, as carbonic acid is 
heavier than air, and was present in quantity, 
it displaced the air in the silo, and that, being 
readily absorbed by the water or juice, it had 
a tendency to form a vacuum, which, com- 
bined with the pressure and capillary attrac- 
tion, brought the juice to the very top plank. 
The silo is now just half empty. The perpen- 
dicular face of the cut is 1 3! feet. From any 
part of this face, we can take a handful of the 
corn and squeeze the juice from it with one 
hand. The lower half of this mass occupies 
less than half the space it did when put in. 
The upper half shows much less pressure ; but 
the wei2:ht of a cubic foot of each is about the 
same, showing the proportion of juice to corn 
is much greater in the top half. Heavy press- 
ure was kept on for six weeks. During all this 
time, acetic acid came out pure and pungent. 



Preserving Green Forage 147 

When that ceased to come, the pressure was 
discontinued ; and, since the pressure has been 
removed, the acidity has been growing less, a 
change not unHke the acidity of a Baldwin 
apple from November to May. My cattle have 
never objected to the acid. They seem to like 
it. The good milkers increase in milk, but do 
not increase so much in flesh; while the young 
and dry stock increase in flesh, some of them 
over two pounds daily for sixty days past. I 
am keeping nearly double the stock of last 
year, making nearly double the amount of milk 
and manure, using about the same amount of 
grain, and employing the same amount of help 
as last year. I have no weights to put on and 
take off the silo, no corn to husk, shell, and 
take to the mill, — it is all in the silo ; and I 
have no corn-fodder to handle, cut up, and 
steam, and no mangels to cut up and feed. 
I shall have half my hay left over. It was all 
fed out last year to about half the amount of 
stock. I also have enough of this fodder to 
carry twenty head of stock to the ist of 
August. 

This system, as developed by experiment and 
tests, rests mainly upon having tight silos, with 
smooth, perpendicular, even walls ; the oppo- 
site walls being at equal distances from each 



148 Colcord's Syste7n of 

other in all places, so that under pressure the 
fodder may descend with the least lateral 
pressure, and the covering may come down 
evenly without pressure upon the walls ; the 
forage kept spread evenly while being placed 
in the silo, so that it may be pressed to equal 
density. The cover should be of 2-inch plank 
laid across the silo, with 6x6 timbers laid 
across the plank lengthwise of the silo to keep 
the cover level ; and the pressure should be 
upon the 6x6 timber. The best pressure is 
produced by having i %-inch iron rods built into 
the side walls from the bottom to 6 feet above 
the walls, placed perpendicular in the centre 
of the walls, about 4 feet from the end walls 
and 8 feet distance apart, with ^ y. Z timber 
(to a 12-foot span) connecting opposite rods, 
the rods passing through i^-inch holes 
through the ends of the timbers, securely 
fastened on top by double nuts and large, 
heavy washers under them. The long screws 
on the rods should be about six threads to 
an inch. 2-inch jack-screws should be used 
between the timbers running lengthwise and 
across the silo. 

The heavy strain upon the rods will assist 
in holding up the walls, the corn can be kept 
level, and all time, trouble, and expense of 
weighting avoided. 



Preserving Green Forage 149 

The corn should be cut fine, % to ^ inch 
long. The pressure should give about 30 
inches of juice in the bottom of the silo, and 
is a better guide for pressure than weighting 
a certain number of pounds, because that 
amount of juice has been found sufficient 
under pressure, with the absorption of car- 
bonic acid and capillary attraction to carry the 
juice to the top of the forage, displacing all air 
and free gas, representing canned goods by 
cold pressure instead of heat. This statement 
must be understood to include the device for 
removing air and other gases, without which 
it cannot be done. In large silos, one gover- 
nor should be placed on the bottom and one 
in the centre of the silo. These act so 
promptly that we get juice in the bottom be- 
fore we get the cover on, and act continuously 
for six weeks, removing air, carbonic and acetic 
acid, the forage continually improving in qual- 
ity from the filling to removing it from the 
silo. The covering plank is laid directly upon 
the corn. There is no waste whatever of for- 
age in the silo, or at the feeding-trough. 
There is no odor from the forage in the silo, 
about the barn, or from the hands and cloth- 
ing after handling it. Cattle will eat one ton 
per month continuously. If the corn is put in 



150 Colcord's System of 

mature, the ears upon the stalk, no corn-meal 
should be fed with it ; but cattle will do better 
with a light ration of shorts and cotton-seed 
fed with the forage, as corn in its best con- 
ditions is not a perfect food, although there is 
no better food to feed alone. 

In comparing different samples of ensilage, 
it is often difficult to decide which is best; 
and it is usually found to be of better quality 
during the first month after opening the silo ; 
but forage preserved by this system is contin- 
ually improving. 

In comparing it with ensilage, we can feed 
one-third more of it in a given time ; it is 
much more economical, — there is no waste in 
preserving or feeding it ; there are no foul 
odors about it, and odor is one of the sure 
tests of quality. 

By this system, we expel the air, carbonic 
and acetic acids, from the silo, pure and simple. 
In ensilage, these are disposed of by heat and 
fermentation, through decomposition, forming 
deleterious compounds with foul odors, increas- 
ino[ as bacteria fermentation is more or less 
active. Ensilage usually has heat and active 
bacteria fermentation in it, which causes nearly 
all the trouble with it ; but, when the governor 
is used in a good silo, heat and fermentation 
never occur. 



Preserving Green Forage 1 5 i 

It is of great advantage and a great satisfac- 
tion to be able to know just the conditions 
inside the silo at all times, as the amount of 
juice gives the pressure wanted as well as the 
acidity. The temperature informs us as to 
the fermentation, the ability to examine the 
gases coming from all parts of the silo, at any 
time, and to know when they cease and hew 
they can be controlled. The device we call 
the governor, because it is intended not only 
to show the conditions, but govern them. It 
has always acted to prevent heat and fermen- 
tation, so that we have never had an opportu- 
nity to test in stopping and controlling, al- 
though designed for that purpose also. 

It is also a great advantage to control the 
pressure at will. The last heavy pressure by 
the screws gave us acetic acid through the 
governor, showing no changes beyond, toward 
decomposition ; and it is to be noted that 
acetic acid came in the second day after com- 
mencing to fill. 

The quantity of acetic acid in all samples 
of ensilage has appeared to be one of the 
great objections to ensilage, and, in judging it, 
other greater objections have been overlooked. 
I have found that the quality of the preserved 
forage does not depend upon its acidity. 



152 Colcord's System of 

To ascertain the effect of good preserved 
fodder fed in large quantity, I fed to a large 
cow from 66 to over 70 pounds daily for 90 
days, during which time she gained in weight 
2 pounds 5 ounces daily. Her last feed, an 
hour and a half before she was killed, was 19 
pounds of bright, odorless forage, fed alone, 
the acidity of which was equal to the acidity 
in 1 1 ounces of commercial acetic acid. The 
test was made by pressing 10 ounces of juice 
from I pound of the forage, neutralizing with 
liquor potash, and testing with litmus. The 
contents of the stomach were immediately ex- 
amined in the same way. One pound of it was 
pressed the same as the sample before it was 
fed, with same results, 10 ounces of juice from 
16 ounces. Nothing found in the stomach 
but this forage. The humidity the same as 
before being eaten, and tested so nearly neu- 
tral that I could not tell whether it leaned to 
acid or alkali. 

The contents of the stomach were not offen- 
sive, not more so than the forage before being 
eaten, except the animal heat in it. Every 
part of the animal was perfectly healthy. The 
beef was fat, very meaty and well mottled. 
This cow, before she was fed on this forage, 
was in quite ordinary condition, and it was 



Preserving Green Forage 153 

feared that she would not fatten enough for 
fair beef ; but 3 days before she was butchered 
slie weighed 1,418 pounds. How that quan- 
tity of acid was disposed of in one and one- 
half hours by the animal will require more 
time and further experiments. No animal 
could have been in better health than she 
was during the 90 days, or show a more 
healthy condition of every part upon exami- 
nation. Her gain in weight for the last 90 
days was gradual and continuous, averaging 
2 pounds 5 ounces daily. Over 3 pounds of 
the contents of her stomach is now in the 
same condition as on the day it was taken out. 
It has been kept in a tin lard-pail 30 days, is 
odorless, and seems to be just in the condi- 
tion for mastication. 

This acid forage was taken from the centre 
of the silo 'around the perpendicular pipes that 
very loosely sleeved the governors together, 
giving the forage an opportunity to absorb a 
larger portion of the acid passing the loose 
openings. I do not know what the odor of 
ensilage would be under like circumstances, 
after being exposed to heat and fermentation, 
but presume the foul odors would be very 
much increased, as is the case with juice from 
ensilage after exposure to the air. 



154 Colcord's System of 

May 15, 1 888. — My silo is now three-quar- 
ters empty. This empty part is dry and odor- 
less. The last quarter we are now using is 
much improved by remaining in the silo. 
The cover is tight, but there is no pressure 
or weight upon it. The vertical cut is 13^^ 
feet. The lower half of the corn is con- 
densed to half the space occupied by the 
upper half, but a cubic foot of the upper half 
Aveighs a little more than a cubic foot of the 
lower half; yet in feeding value they are equal. 
I feed all the cattle with every ration weighed 
to them, which is now 65 pounds daily to 
each animal, reduced from 70 pounds, because 
the feeding value of the forage is improved 
by soaking five months in its own juice. 
The flow of milk is much greater, as well as 
the gain in flesh. Nothing leaks out or runs 
down from this vertical cut, and I can now 
l^ress out 11 ounces of juice from 16 ounces 
of the forage taken from any part of the silo. 
16 of my cows have gained the past 4 months 
2,765 pounds, and 16 of them 1,242 pounds 
during the last y::) days. One of them has 
gained in weight an average of a fraction over 
5 pounds daily during the past 30 days; an- 
other one, 434. pounds daily; another, 3 5-6 
pounds; another, 3 1-3 pounds; another, 3 1-6 



Preserving Green Forage 155 

pounds ; 2 more, 3 pounds daily each, and so 
on, — all during the last 30 days, with about 
half my former rations of grain and about one- 
quarter ration of hay for a change. 

The juice from this forage is odorless, 
agreeable to the taste, and changes but very 
little upon exposure to the air. It settles clear, 
and loses much of its acidity. At a tempera- 
ture of 60° to 80°, it will gradually turn to 
pure, odorless, weak corn vinegar. 

The year previous to building this silo, I 
fed at the rate of 140 bushels of shelled corn, 
in the shape of a mixture of cob-meal and 
oats, to eleven cows, with good results; but I 
thought I was feeding too much corn for the 
health of the cattle. This year, I think I am 
feeding mature corn in full milk that, if allowed 
to glaze and ripen, would yield about 500 
bushels of shelled corn. This has been and is 
being fed to 19 head of cattle, 17 being milch 
cows giving 20 cans of milk, 17 pints each, 
the milk increasing at about the same rate as 
of flesh, as stated above, in the past 30 days. 

This amount of corn goes into the cows as 
juice, or extract of corn, as between 60 and 70 
per cent, is contained in the forage as free 
juice, held there by absorption; and, fed in this 
way, I do not consider that it acts in digestion 



156 Colcord's System of 

as corn-meal does, and accounts for the greatly 
increased feeding value of corn forage pre- 
served in this way. 

I have not yet tried the experiment of feed- 
ing a large quantity of grain with this very 
moist forage, but I think it can be done to 
some extent without injury to the cattle. 
There must be some limit to it, but I have not 
yet found it. I am not feeding my usual 
quantity of grain, on account of the enormous 
increase of flesh, as stated above. 

If, as these experiments seem to indicate, 
the first process of digestion is done in the 
silo to a great extent, and if it is necessary 
that a large quantity of acid is required in 
this first process of digestion, and if we can 
do it as well or better without using the vital 
force of the animal, it would seem to be a 
matter of very great importance. 

The cattle eat these rations in half an hour. 
An hour afterward, the cud is in the best 
possible condition ready to be chewed over. 
There is no inflation of gas in the stomach, no 
acid, no odor. The cows are quiet and docile. 
The increase of milk, flesh, and manure, is 
very large. The economy in time, trouble, 
labor, and expense, is very great, and the 
results foot up from double to treble any other 
known methods. 



Preserving Green Forage 157 

I have not yet made any experiments for the 
quaHty of milk, cream, and butter;* but I have 
no reason to doubt a corresponding advance in 
both quantity and quality. The quantity we 
are sure of, and the large amount of hydro- 
carbons that oro to make cream and fat are to 
be found in corn, bran, cotton and flax seed. 
Cows fed with this forage in proper quantities 
(not large) will give very rich and yellow milk, 
cream, and butter. There is not any objection- 
able odor in this preserved forage, from the 
silo to the second stomach of the cow ; but it 
may lack the fine flavor of clover or new-mown 
hay. 

PROGRESS MADE IN PRESERVING GREEN 
FORAGE IN SILOS. 

Men make progress in any direction when 
they keep their eyes open in all directions, 
with the mind in an affirmative state, and the 
will ready to receive the truth and act upon it, 
when found. I have had good and abundant 
reasons for pursuing this course in these in- 
vestigations, and have found occasion to mod- 
ify and change my opinions in much of the 
detail of my work, abandon much that I sup- 

* See p. 138 for recent experiments on milk and cream. 



158 Colcord's System of 

posed was true and reliable, and to hang up as 
doubtful some things I had considered scien- 
tific facts. 

Any one attempting to fathom the depths 
and mysteries of fermentation will find him- 
self in a broad road, with no sharp lines, like 
wheel-ruts, to guide him, but more like the 
path of the rainbow, shading and blending, yet 
never going in a straight line, but always 
pointing in one direction, 

I should never have known what I now do 
about fermentation, as regards its operations 
in green forage in silos, had I continued to 
follow in the direction of other investigators ; 
but when I built a perfect silo, large enough 
to work the processes in quantity, in which 
I could try any required experiments, find out 
all that was going on in the silo, examine all 
the gases that came from it, ascertain the tem- 
perature in it at any time and at any depth, 
press it level, and enough to get free juice in 
it from bottom to top, to make the forage very 
nearly represent canned goods, to prevent heat, 
fermentation, and foul odor of any kind, and 
be able to remove the forage in perfect condi- 
tion, and feed it out without change, in the 
coldest weather in winter or the warmest 
weather in summer, I found all my theories 
and hopes more than realized, because two- 



Preserving Green Forage 159 

thirds of all the difficulties I expected to en- 
counter were removed when all the air was 
out and my friend, carbonic acid, was in. But 
let no one think that, when he tries an experi- 
ment and makes a failure, it has no value. 
The failures of others have been the land- 
marks to guide me to success in this matter. 
Whenever I saw failures in any silo, I was not 
long in discovering the cause. If it was fun- 
gus growth or black rot, I found that it was 
caused by air getting in from the outside. If 
I found true fermentation, I always found it 
produced by air not being removed from the 
silo, producing heat and fermentation, with 
decomposition and recombinations, evolving 
foul odors. I spent a great deal of time and 
study to find some way of curing these evils, 
when found in the silo ; but, when I became 
the possessor of a perfect silo, in which I could 
find the truth of every theory, and prove the 
facts by actual experiment, my theories and 
practices became very much modified, and I 
found two-thirds of my work could be done by 
avoiding the difficulties, and the practical diffi- 
culties so simplified that they could all be met 
and perfect results obtained, even by persons 
of ordinary capacity. I learned that by having 
strong and tight silos, with smooth, level-faced 
walls, the forage can settle without leaving 



i6o Colcord's System 

any cracks or vacant spaces for the air to get 
in and produce black rot ; that removing all 
the air at the time of filling the silo will 
prevent heat and fermentation ; that press- 
ing out juice from the corn, and bringing it up 
uniformly throughout the forage to take the 
place of the air and gases in the forage, will 
produce a condition like canned goods. This 
condition can be developed and controlled 
with very little trouble, and very great econ- 
omy, by using the silo governor. The details 
of the processes are all described and explained 
under appropriate heads, and the system eluci- 
dated as well as I know how to do it, in this 
little book. 

While I do not claim that further progress 
is impossible, I do claim that what we now 
know is quite sufficient to insure very nearly, 
if not absolutely, perfect results, and ought to 
be satisfactory to the most fastidious, making 
sure of the best results attained as yet by any 
system devised for cheapening dairy products, 
and improving them in quality and quantity, 
whether it be milk, cream, butter, cheese, beef, 
or even manure ; and that whatever progress 
is made in the future will be made in the 
direction pointed out in this " System of Pre- 
serving Green Forage without Heat or Fer- 
mentation." 







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